Anti-Racism as Communism

Abstract

In the United States there have been brilliant examples of anti-racist struggle—black soldiers in the Civil War, coal miners of Alabama, and especially the anti-racist working-class struggles led by the Communist Party. Yet racism persists: Jim Crow replaced racial slavery, and mass incarceration has replaced Jim Crow. Why? In this open access book Paul Gomberg argues that racism is functional for capitalism, supplying low-wage, vulnerable labor and driving down conditions for all workers. How can anti-racists put an end to racist society? Gomberg argues for race-centered Marxism: anti-racism must lead working-class struggle, but racism will end only in a communist society that creates opportunity for all. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com