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The Color of Politics: Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics
A magisterial review of the role of racism in the history of American politics "Goldfield's sweeping account recasts the familiar turning points in our past to show the singular and destructive impact of racism, and its crippling consequences for the development of class-based politics. This bold book will take its place as one of the truly important statements about American political history." ―Frances Fox Piven, co-author of Regulating the Poor and The Breaking of the American Social Compact There is no better way to understand the roots of racial oppression in America and the periodic mass struggles against it than to read Michael Goldfield's classic The Color of Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics . How has race determined the course of American history? From the Revolution to the New Deal, from the Civil War to World War II, race has been at the center of virtually every national turning point. In this brilliant book, Goldfield doggedly documents the persistence of racism in the American nation and the heroic massive struggles against it from colonial times to the present, offering a penetrating guide to how we can achieve a more just society.
404 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1997
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April 17, 2012
In which Goldfield attempts to tackle the Sombart question by placing race at the center of American politics from before the revolution to the modern day:
"Race has been the central ingredient, not merely in undermining solidarity when broad struggles have erupted, not merely in dividing workers, but also in providing an alternative white male nonclass worldview and structure of identity that have exerted their force during both stable and confrontational times. It has provided the everyday framework in which labor has been utilized, controlled, and exploited by those who have employed it. And race has been behind many of the supposed principles of American government (most notably states' rights) that are regarded as sacred by some people today."
To demonstrate this, Goldfield explores five turning points in American history when race dominated the political attention of the nation - typically when an interracial left-labor coalition began to form and was then co-opted or defeated by conservative/capitalist white supremacist interests ("the system of racial domination has been central to the economic interests of an important segment of the U.S. ruling class"):
1. The creation of racial slavery in the late 17th century
2. The American Revolution
3. The Civil War and Reconstruction
4. The “System of 1896” (apparently a political science term, some of us might call this “the Progressive Era”)
5. The Depression and the New Deal
The book then turns to the Civil Rights Movement and massive resistance and the making of the New Right, and I was never quite clear why that didn’t constitute a sixth turning point.
Throughout, Goldfield as at pains to deconstruct biological and/or ahistorical concepts of racism.
I’m kind of mystified as to why this book appears not to have made much of an impact on the field, which is too bad (in terms of history, anyway - I can’t speak to political science, which is Goldfield’s discipline).
"Race has been the central ingredient, not merely in undermining solidarity when broad struggles have erupted, not merely in dividing workers, but also in providing an alternative white male nonclass worldview and structure of identity that have exerted their force during both stable and confrontational times. It has provided the everyday framework in which labor has been utilized, controlled, and exploited by those who have employed it. And race has been behind many of the supposed principles of American government (most notably states' rights) that are regarded as sacred by some people today."
To demonstrate this, Goldfield explores five turning points in American history when race dominated the political attention of the nation - typically when an interracial left-labor coalition began to form and was then co-opted or defeated by conservative/capitalist white supremacist interests ("the system of racial domination has been central to the economic interests of an important segment of the U.S. ruling class"):
1. The creation of racial slavery in the late 17th century
2. The American Revolution
3. The Civil War and Reconstruction
4. The “System of 1896” (apparently a political science term, some of us might call this “the Progressive Era”)
5. The Depression and the New Deal
The book then turns to the Civil Rights Movement and massive resistance and the making of the New Right, and I was never quite clear why that didn’t constitute a sixth turning point.
Throughout, Goldfield as at pains to deconstruct biological and/or ahistorical concepts of racism.
I’m kind of mystified as to why this book appears not to have made much of an impact on the field, which is too bad (in terms of history, anyway - I can’t speak to political science, which is Goldfield’s discipline).
Displaying 1 of 1 review