Blacks In and Out of the Left - The W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures (Hardback)Michael C. Dawson (author)
The radical black left that played a crucial role in twentieth-century struggles for equality and justice has largely disappeared. Michael Dawson investigates the causes and consequences of the decline of black radicalism as a force in American politics and argues that the conventional left has failed to take race sufficiently seriously as a historical force in reshaping American institutions, politics, and civil society.
African Americans have been in the vanguard of progressive social movements throughout American history, but they have been written out of many histories of social liberalism. Focusing on the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the Black Power movement, Dawson examines successive failures of socialists and Marxists to enlist sympathetic blacks, and white leftists’ refusal to fight for the cause of racial equality. Angered by the often outright hostility of the Socialist Party and similar social democratic organizations, black leftists separated themselves from these groups and either turned to the hard left or stayed independent. A generation later, the same phenomenon helped fueled the Black Power movement’s turn toward a variety of black nationalist, Maoist, and other radical political groups.
The 2008 election of Barack Obama notwithstanding, many African Americans still believe they will not realize the fruits of American prosperity any time soon. This pervasive discontent, Dawson suggests, must be mobilized within the black community into active opposition to the social and economic status quo. Black politics needs to find its way back to its radical roots as a vital component of new American progressive movements.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Dimensions: 210 x 140 mm
[An] important new book… Dawson’s frontal challenge to liberal and social democratic pontificates and his passionate defense of the black revolutionary tradition is a great gift to all students, especially black youth who have been robbed of their own history. Dawson brings to life the complexity of building a black and multi-racial left and highlights the profound achievements of black leaders and organizations that were purged from popular history. He emphasizes several important leaders who are too-little known today: Hubert Harrison, Cyril Briggs, Harry Haywood, Claudia Jones, W.E.B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, Paul Robeson, and Fannie Lou Hamer. By reminding us that black revolutionary action has a long and influential tradition that extends well beyond the ’60s, Dawson challenges the white intellectuals who saw the unification of minority groups as a threat to their own interests… Dawson’s historical analysis provides a model for reinvigorating the revolutionary organizations of today. - Eric Mann, Boston Review
Dawson is at his finest in exposing how many historians of the U.S. left have erased the black presence within American radicalism. Parallel to this ‘whitewashing,’ and perhaps a more nefarious form of political amnesia, has been the effort by some white scholars to blame the current fragmentation of the organized left on the profusion of racial, gender-based, and sexual ‘identity politics.’… Blacks In and Out of the Left is an act of socially committed scholarship that deserves the widest possible reading public among students of African-American social movements, black political thought, public policy, labor and working-class history, and U.S. radicalism. - Clarence Lang, Dissent
Dawson offers a fresh interpretation of the largely unknown and often misrepresented history of black radicalism in an effort to chart a progressive path forward that will effectively challenge racial injustice, economic inequality, and imperialism. This provocative and enlightening book creatively fuses analytical history with political theory to diagnose what has ailed the American Left for decades. But it is not a pessimistic book. Rather, in the spirit of hope and possibility, it calls for utopian yet pragmatic political thinking that regards independent black political organizing not as a balkanizing force or distraction from the ‘universal’ fight for a democratic society, but as an indispensable element of any viable Left-wing politics. - Tommie Shelby, author of We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity
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Weusi Ndani na Nje ya Kushoto - The W. E. B. "Mwanzoni mwa karne ya ishirini, Michael C. Dawson aliandika: ""Kikosi cha kushoto cha weusi kilichokuwa na jukumu muhimu katika mapambano ya karne ya ishirini kwa usawa na haki kimetoweka." Michael Dawson anachunguza sababu na matokeo ya kupungua kwa ukatili wa weusi kama nguvu katika siasa za Marekani na anadai kwamba kushoto kwa kawaida kumeshindwa kuchukua mbio kwa uzito wa kutosha kama nguvu ya kihistoria katika kuunda upya taasisi za Marekani, siasa, na jamii ya kiraia. Wamarekani wa Kiafrika wamekuwa katika mstari wa mbele wa harakati za kijamii za maendeleo katika historia ya Marekani, lakini wameandikwa nje ya historia nyingi za uhuru wa kijamii. Akizungumzia miaka ya 1920 na 1930, pamoja na harakati za Black Power, Dawson anachunguza kushindwa kwa wasoshalisti na Marxists kuajiri weusi wenye huruma, na kukataa kwa wazungu wa kushoto kupigania sababu ya usawa wa rangi. Kwa hasira na uhasama wa wazi wa Chama cha Kisoshalisti na mashirika kama hayo ya kijamii ya kidemokrasia, watu weusi wa kushoto walijitenga na makundi haya na ama kugeukia upande wa kushoto mkali au kubaki huru. Kizazi kimoja baadaye, jambo hilohilo lilisaidia kuchochea mwelekeo wa harakati ya Black Power kuelekea aina mbalimbali za taifa la weusi, Maoist, na vikundi vingine vya kisiasa vya kimapinduzi. Baada ya Barack Obama kuchaguliwa rais mwaka 2008, wengi wa watu wa asili ya Afrika bado wanaamini kwamba hawatapata matunda ya mafanikio ya Marekani kwa muda mfupi. Dawson anapendekeza kwamba kutoridhika huko lazima kuendelezewe ndani ya jumuiya ya weusi katika upinzani wenye bidii dhidi ya hali ya kijamii na kiuchumi. Siasa za weusi zinahitaji kupata njia ya kurudi kwenye mizizi yake ya kimapinduzi kama sehemu muhimu ya harakati mpya za maendeleo za Marekani. "Kutoka kwa mwandishi wa kitabu hicho, Dawson, ""kitabu kipya muhimu, changamoto ya mbele kwa pontificates ya uhuru na kijamii ya kidemokrasia na utetezi wake wa shauku ya mapinduzi ya kienyeji ni zawadi kubwa kwa wanafunzi wote, hasa vijana weusi ambao wameibiwa historia yao wenyewe.""" Dawson anatoa maisha ya utata wa kujenga nyeusi na multi-rasal kushoto na inasisitiza mafanikio ya kina ya viongozi weusi na mashirika ambayo walikuwa purged kutoka historia ya watu. "Wanafunzi wa shule ya msingi wa shule ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi ya msingi.""" Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, Paul Robeson, na Fannie Lou Hamer. Kwa kutukumbusha kwamba harakati za mapinduzi ya weusi zina utamaduni mrefu na wenye ushawishi ambao unaenea zaidi ya miaka ya 1960, Dawson anawaita wasomi weupe ambao waliona kuunganishwa kwa vikundi vya wachache kama tishio kwa maslahi yao wenyewe. "Eric Mann, Boston Review: ""Dawson ni bora katika kufunua jinsi wanahistoria wengi wa kushoto wa Marekani wamefuta uwepo mweusi ndani ya ukatili wa Marekani." "Kama mfano wa ""whitewashing"" na labda aina mbaya zaidi ya amnesia ya kisiasa, imekuwa ni juhudi ya wasomi weupe kuwalaumu kugawanyika kwa sasa kwa kushoto kwa kupinduliwa kwa jamii, jinsia, na jinsia ya ""sera ya utambulisho""... ""Wazungu ndani na nje ya kushoto"" ni kitendo cha masomo ya kijamii ambayo yanastahili kusoma kwa wingi zaidi kati ya wanafunzi wa umma wa harakati za kijamii za Kiafrika-Amerka, mawazo ya kisiasa ya weusi, sera ya umma, historia ya kazi na jamii ya wafanyakazi." "Kama Clarence Lang, Dissent Dawson, anatoa tafsiri mpya ya historia isiyojulikana na mara nyingi iliyopotoshwa ya ukatili wa weusi katika juhudi za kuchora njia ya maendeleo ambayo itapinga kwa ufanisi ukosefu wa haki wa kikabila, usawa wa kiuchumi, na ubaguzi wa kijeshi. """ Kitabu hiki cha kuchochea na kuelimisha kwa ubunifu huunganisha historia ya uchambuzi na nadharia ya kisiasa kugundua kile ambacho kimesababisha kushoto kwa Amerika kwa miongo mingi. Lakini si kitabu chenye kutilia shaka. Badala yake, kwa roho ya matumaini na uwezekano, inatoa wito kwa mawazo ya kisiasa ya utopia lakini ya vitendo ambayo inahusu shirika huru la kisiasa la weusi sio kama nguvu ya balkanizing au kugeuza fikira kutoka kwa mapambano ya "ulimwengu" kwa jamii ya kidemokrasia, lakini kama kipengele muhimu cha siasa yoyote ya kushoto inayofaa. "Tommy Shelby, mwandishi wa ""We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity"" aliandika hivi: ""Ninaamini kwamba kuna kitu ambacho kimefanyika katika maisha ya watu wa Black kwa sasa, na ni kwamba watu wa Black wanaendelea kujihusisha na suala hili."