Black Marxism after 40 Years

  • RENTON, J. (Organiser)
  • Robin D.G. Kelley (Participant)
  • Alana Lentin (Participant)
  • Joshua Myers (Participant)

Activity: Participating in or organising an event typesOrganising a conference, workshop, etc.

Description

Forty years ago, Cedric J. Robinson published his landmark book, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. A sweeping work of global history, intended as theory, this classic work gave us a new framework for thinking about capitalism as a racialised system, born out of a feudal society that had race as its core. Moreover, Robinson showed that Black labour was central to capitalism as a world economy, and that, equally, Black resistance was pivotal in the history of anti-capitalist revolutionary struggle over four centuries. Race-blind Marxist theory was, therefore, deficient.

On 6 December 2023, the International Centre on Racism hosted an online round-table to reflect on Black Marxism’s significance today. We are honoured to be joined by Robinson’s one-time student, Professor Robin D.G. Kelley (UCLA), author of the classic introduction to the 2000 UNC edition; Robinson’s biographer, Professor Joshua Myers (Howard University), and Professor Alana Lentin, critical theorist of racism and antiracism (Western Sydney University).
Period6 Dec 2023
Event typeSeminar

Keywords

  • Black Marxism
  • Racism
  • Europe