Black Marxism- Cedric Robinson

Black Marxism - Cedric Robinson

Origins of Racism

• Racism is not merely a convention for organizing relations between European and non-European peoples.

  • It has its origins ('genesis') in the "internal" relations among European peoples themselves.

  • As part of Western civilization's inventory, it reverberates within and beyond, transferring impacts from the past to the present.

Racial Capitalism

• The development, organization, and expansion of capitalist society have pursued fundamentally racial directions, influencing social ideology as well.

  • Racialism, as a material force, is poised to permeate the social structures that emerge from capitalism.

  • The term "racial capitalism" has been used to describe this development and its subsequent formation as a historical agency.

• Europeans were already classifying people as superior/inferior

• Capitalism simply reorganized that system on a global scale

• slavery, colonialism, and racial terror were not accidents — they were structural

• Capitalism does not exploit people equally — it sorts them racially and exploits them differently.

Importance of Nationalism

• Nationalism is characterized as a mix of racial sensibility and the economic interests of national bourgeoisies.

  • It serves as a powerful ideological force that impacts both the trajectory of capitalist development and the foundational structures of socialist societies that emerged in the present century.

Race and Europe

• The bourgeoisie leading capitalism development comprised specific ethnic and cultural factions; the European proletariat and mercenaries from various others, while peasants were derived from yet different cultures, and slaves came from entirely distinct backgrounds.

  • Capitalist European civilization tends to differentiate rather than homogenize: it amplifies regional, subcultural, and dialectical differences into what are termed "racial" differences.

  • Specific historical examples include:

  • Slavs becoming perceived as natural slaves, deemed inferior for domination and exploitation during the early Middle Ages.

  • Tartars in Italian cities during the late Middle Ages reflecting a similar fate.

  • By the sixteenth century, the systemic interlinking of capitalism began categorizing peoples from the Third World as fitting into this expanding civilization framework reproduced by capitalism.

Modern Nationalism

• Despite the power the bourgeoisie, aristocrats, and bureaucrats wield, they ultimately depend on co-opting the rational proletariat for eradicating competition.

  • Nationalism mobilizes the military forces necessary to either decimate the productive capabilities of opposition or to secure new markets, labor, and resources for production.

  • The uneven evolution of national capitalisms is anticipated to yield horrific consequences both for Europe itself and for populations subjected to European dominion.

England and Ireland

• Following Elizabeth I's ascension to the throne, English policies toward Ireland drastically shifted:

  • The English initiated a plantation scheme to subdue Ireland, with the most significant plantation being in Londonderry, established in 1608, parallel to the Virginia plantation efforts.

  • Englishmen and Scots were enticed to Ireland with promises of free land, tasked with displacing Irish populations into the woods and securing their settlements.

Ideology

• Ideology can be viewed as a rejection of dominant strands of contemporary social inquiry.

  • Its "intrusions" in the last two centuries have stifled social and historical processes perceived to be necessary and inevitable.

  • Ideology has facilitated rebellions and revolutions in seemingly improbable circumstances and among unexpected populations.

  • It has also contributed to remarkable historical achievements contrary to likely failure outcomes.

  • As an ally of somewhat misunderstood historical forces, ideology has revealed Western thought's weaknesses, such as mechanical Marxism's reductionism and liberal thought's reifications.

Racialism

• Understanding the historical configuration of racist ideology within Western culture requires exploring successive eras marked by violent domination and social extraction impacting European peoples over roughly two millennia.

  • Racialism has infiltrated medieval, feudal, and capitalist social structures, property forms, modes of production, as well as the values and traditions influencing consciousness through which people understood their existence.

  • Western culture serves as the structure from which European consciousness is derived, embedding the racialism that adapts to the political and material needs of varying times.

Logics of Racial Capitalism and Carcerality

• During the Penal Era, numerous restrictive legislative policies emerged from the English Parliament aimed at decoupling the Irish economy:

  • Examples of these acts include:

  • Prohibition against marketing Irish cattle in England (1681)

  • Prohibition against Irish woolens and colored linens (1699)

  • Prohibition against glass products (1746)

  • After achieving their objectives, these policies allowed for the re-establishment of free trade.

Conclusion

• Overall, this approach underscores a critical intertwining of race, capitalism, and ideology, revealing foundational aspects of modern social and economic structures that continue to resonate today.