Black Radicals and Marxist Internationalism: from the IWMA to the Fourth International, 1864-1948 Charles R
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, History, Department of Department of History 5-2014 Black Radicals and Marxist Internationalism: From the IWMA to the Fourth International, 1864-1948 Charles R. Holm University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss Part of the African American Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Labor History Commons, Political History Commons, Political Theory Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Holm, Charles R., "Black Radicals and Marxist Internationalism: From the IWMA to the Fourth International, 1864-1948" (2014). Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History. 71. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss/71 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Black Radicals and Marxist Internationalism: From the IWMA to the Fourth International, 1864-1948 By Charles Holm A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: History Under the Supervision of Professor Jeannette Eileen Jones Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2014 Black Radicals and Marxist Internationalism: From the IWMA to the Fourth International, 1864-1948 Charles Holm, MA University of Nebraska, 2014 Advisor: Jeannette Eileen Jones This project investigates historical relationships between Black Radicalism and Marxist internationalism from the mid-nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that contrary to scholarly accounts that emphasize Marxist Euro-centrism, or that theorize the incompatibility of “Black” and “Western” radical projects, Black Radicals helped shape and produce Marxist theory and political movements, developing theoretical and organizational innovations that drew on both Black Radical and Marxist traditions of internationalism. These innovations were produced through experiences of struggle within international political movements ranging from the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century to the early Pan-African movements and struggles against racism and colonialism in the early twentieth century. Taking into account recent contributions to the historiography of Black Radicalism and international Marxism in the twentieth century, this thesis fills an important gap by examining how the “Black International” influenced Karl Marx himself during the American Civil War. It also addresses the contentious and problematic relationships between Black socialists and white Marxists in the American Socialist Party, within the context of emerging Pan African movements and the broader debates surrounding Marxism in the lead up to World War I. Additionally, this thesis reexamines the relationships between Marxism and Black radicals following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, incorporating into its discussion the largely neglected theoretical and organizational activities of the Marxist left that gravitated around Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition following 1928, rather than focusing strictly on figures who remained organizationally and theoretically tied to the Communist International during the 1930s and 1940s. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The Black International and Karl Marx: From Haiti to London ....16 Chapter Two: Black Radicals, Marxism, and the Second International, 1877-1919 .......................................................................................................................56 Chapter Three: Black Radical Marxists Inside and Outside the Comintern, 1919-1948 .......................................................................................................................98 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................140 Bibliography ........................................................................................................148 1 INTRODUCTION “Long before Karl Marx wrote ‘Workers of the world, unite,’ the revolution was international.” -- C.L.R. James, “Revolution and the Negro,” 19391 “What comrade James tells us now is very important,” said the exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky on April 5, 1939. Trotsky and the Black radical Marxist internationalist C.L.R. James were discussing whether or not the newly formed Socialist Workers’ Party in the United States should initiate the creation of a mass based “organization of Negroes as Negroes—not for the purpose of winning some elements to our party but for the purpose of doing systematic educational work in order to elevate them politically.” The discussion took place in Coyoacán, Mexico. At the time, James argued that a “Marxist analysis of Negro history and the problems of the day” gave “insight into the development of the Negroes which nothing else can.” James, born in Trinidad in 1901, came to Mexico via California after completing a national speaking tour of the United States. He arrived in the United States in 1938 from England as an important figure on the international Trotskyist left, and where he had been instrumental in building Pan-African political organizations.2 1 C.L.R. James’ “Revolution and the Negro” (December 1939), in C.L.R. James and Revolutionary Marxism: Selected Writings of C.L.R. James 1939-1949, eds. Scott McLemee and Paul Le Blanc (Amherst, New York: Humanity Books, 1994), 81. 2 For a full transcript of James and Trotsky’s exchange in Mexico, see “The Discussions in Coyoacán” (April 1932), in Leon Trotsky on Black Nationalism & Self-Determination, ed. George Breitman, 2nd ed. (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1978), 33-69. Two excellent anthologies of James’ writings during his years in the United States are C.L.R. James on the ‘Negro’ Question, ed. Scott McLemee (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi) and C.L.R. James and Revolutionary Marxism: Selected Writings of C.L.R. James 1939-1949, eds. Scott McLemee and Paul Le Blanc (Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, 1994). On James’ early Marxism, also see Anthony Bogues, Caliban’s Freedom: The Early Political Thought of C.L.R. James (London: Pluto Press, 1997). 2 The interaction between C.L.R. James and Leon Trotsky in Mexico represents a much longer historical interaction between Black radicals and Marxist revolutionaries that dates back to the late nineteenth century, framed by Karl Marx’s view of Black revolution during the American Civil War. Beginning with the influence of Black revolution and slavery on Marx’s own developing theoretical and political outlook, the current project investigates this historical relationship through the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that contrary to scholarly accounts that emphasize Marxist Euro-centrism, or that theorize the incompatibility of “Black” and “Western” radical projects, Black radicals helped shape and produce Marxist theory and political movements, developing theoretical and organizational innovations that drew on both Black and Marxist traditions of internationalism. These innovations were produced through experiences of struggle within international political movements ranging from the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century to the early Pan-African movements and struggles against racism and colonialism in the early twentieth century. Taking into account recent contributions to the historiography of Black radicalism and the international Marxist left, this thesis examines how the “Black International” influenced Karl Marx himself during the American Civil War. It also addresses the contentious and problematic relationships between Black socialists like W.E.B. Du Bois and Hubert Harrison and white Marxists in the American Socialist Party within the context of emerging Pan African movements and the broader debates surrounding Marxism in the lead up to World War I. Additionally, this thesis reexamines the relationships between Marxism and Black Radicals following the Bolshevik Revolution 3 in 1917, incorporating into its discussion the largely neglected theoretical and organizational activities of the Marxist left, most importantly the work of C.L.R. James, that gravitated around Leon Trotsky’s ideas and the Left Opposition following 1928, rather than focusing strictly on figures who remained organizationally and theoretically tied to the Communist International during the 1930s and 1940s. This project contends that within anti-slavery, anti-colonial, and anti-racist movements, Marxists produced important theoretical perspectives, organizational practices, and transnational political solidarities. The “foundational core” of both Marxism and Black internationalism as a Black radical tradition is “universal emancipation,”3 and the historical relationship between the two does not suggest an inherent antagonism. As Vivek Chibber has recently argued in his critique of post- colonial theory, Marxism’s “cross-cultural” framework resists the label “Eurocentric,” despite its European origins. “The history