Sociology Question

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Overview:
On the one hand, it is unsurprising that Black people worldwide – in African and Caribbean colonies, in the Jim Crow-era US – saw Marxism as the most suitable account of their conditions and how to overcome them. Marxism emphasizes the exploitation of one class or group by another for profit, and it argues that the only means of transforming that situation is a revolution to overthrow the system.
On the other hand, Marx’s writings were based on observations of Europe and reflected the conditions of the white working class in the industrial cities of Europe (Germany, France, and England, primarily). Their experiences were not the experience of the colonized, enslaved, lynched, and segregated people of African descent. Moreover, the forms of working-class revolt that Marx predicted specifically excluded those who were not fully integrated into industrial society – peasants, rural folk, and others who existed outside the centers of the industrial capitalist machine.
Marx’s line of thinking here reflects the influence of Hegel and the dialectic. Recall that a dialectical relation is one in which something’s internal contradictions give rise to conflict, and that which overcomes the conflict will have been something that was part of the original contradiction. Thus, Marx reasoned that since capitalism depends on an exploited class of workers, the class conflict (between workers and capitalists) can only be overcome by a working-class revolution.
C.L.R. James is an example of a Marxist who recognized the force of Marx’s general framework. And yet, as someone who was not from Europe but a colony of Europe (Trinidad), where there was no industrialization but instead forced agricultural labor, James also recognized that Marxism would have to be adapted to the conditions of the colonized and the enslaved in order to remain relevant. Revolution in Africa and the Caribbean would look different than the revolution Marx predicted, and different than the revolution that many Marxist, socialist, and communist organizations and parties in James’s day still insisted was the only way forward. Much of James’s work involved advocating for more inclusive forms of revolution involving people who were excluded or marginalized by groups like the one he worked for, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
International Socialists were keenly interested in recruiting the Black liberation movement in the US into their organizations, which, for them, meant persuading its leaders to join their organizations and follow their lead. Some did, but there were many who did not. MLK was sympathetic to Marxism and socialism, but he refused to join their movement. Likewise, the Black Power Movement, with its potent message of self-defense by any means necessary, did not formulate a vision of anticapitalist revolt and a transition toward socialism. As a result, Socialists viewed the Black Power Movement with skepticism.
But James thought otherwise. He attended the talk by Stokely Carmichael who, like James, was originally from Trinidad (I recommend watching the Black Power Mixtape documentary included in this week’s Supplemental Material section, which contains extensive footage of Carmichael). He wrote Carmichael and encouraged him to consider more deeply economic concerns and the tradition of Black Radical Thought. James gave a speech to his colleagues in the SWP outlining why they should embrace Carmichael and the Black Power Movement. It was typical of James, always prepared to recognize sources of revolt that did not fit the mold of orthodox Marxism. He had done the same with the movement started earlier in the century by Marcus Garvey.
Instructions:
Based on my lecture and James’s “Black Power” speech, respond to the following questions in a short essay of 500 words (minimum). Include and discuss at least three quotes from the speech to support your interpretations.

In his letter to Stokely, how was he complimentary, and what advice did he give?

When James refers to “Black Power” as a slogan or “banner,” how is this both a recognition of its importance and a criticism?

James will argue that Stokely and Black Power “stand on the shoulders” of a long tradition of Black Radicals – Du Bois, Garvey, George Padmore (a Pan-African organizer whom James grew up with as a kid and later reunited in London), Frantz Fanon, etc. This is a disparate group of people. What do you think is the point that James is attempting to make?

After situating Black power within the broader movement of global anti-racism, James injects a set of questions by the philosopher Immanuel Kant: What can I know? What must I do? What can I hope for? Kant’s entire system of philosophy was organized around these questions (Kant was a German philosopher who immediately preceded Hegel, and to whom Hegel often responded). James says that by situating Black Power within the broader tradition, he has addressed the first question and will now address the second one: what must we do (concerning Black Power)? What is his answer to this second question and his justification for it?

James refers to Carmichael’s participation in the 1967 OLAS conference. This was the Latin American Solidarity Organization and the conference was held in Cuba. It’s an example of Carmichael’s solidarity with Third World struggles. James quotes Fidel Castro, the leader of communist Cuba, praising Carmichael and advising that his courage in going to Cuba and participating in solidarity there would necessitate his protection upon returning to the US, which had, not long before, gone through the Cuban Missile Crisis and was a staunch enemy of Castro and Cuba. Then, James includes a long quote from the King of England regarding the American revolutionaries, calling for their immediate apprehension (George Washington, etc.). Finally, James notes that the British government had recently banned Carmichael from returning. How does all this support James’s apparent purpose in this speech to the SWP?

Lastly, and I think most importantly, James ends by turning to Kant’s third question: what may I hope? In doing so, he recounts his time in America working with Marxist organizations who did not see how the Black liberation struggle would fit into their strategic plans. James says he was able to tell them, based on his studies of Marx and Lenin and his lengthy conversations with Trotsky, the answer to that question. James’s answer is an example of one of his most significant contributions to the Black Radical Tradition and to Marxism generally. Describe his response.

Requirements: 500 words

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