Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition (Penguin Modern Classics)

The fact that "Black Marxism" has largely been ignored by academic communities until now is a genuine disservice to the work Robinson has done here. The book reads as an elegant, pragmatic, and compelling argument that essentially fleshes out the ways in which capitalism's very foundation is racism (and specifically, he argues that capitalism actually produced race in order to justify mistreatment of a slave-working class), and therefore racism cannot be extricated from a capitalist society. Robinson also traces black histories and radical movements in contrast to white historical narratives which have dominated global discourse as a matter of systemic oppression. He gives these histories and movements separate space from Eurocentric histories (as well as traditional Marxism) and is adamantly opposed to the idea that black traditions developed out of white traditions instead of independently from them. There is so much more to be said about this book--things that you will have to hear Robinson tell firsthand to really understand. A word of caution, however: this is not a text for the faint of heart. It is long, it is steeped in complicated terminology, it is referential to a wide number of other critical theories and histories which you will need to at least google in order to understand. But if you labor through this, it will really change your worldview in a dramatic way. Even if you consider yourself to be knowledgeable in Marxism, Robinson will apply the work in ways that go fair beyond any other project dealing with the place and performance of race and ethnicity in Marxist theories, and he will prove ultimately that Black Radicalism was never and could never be a mere subset of Marxism (and to suggest otherwise would be to whitewash history.) I would suggest purchasing the Kindle version of this book, as you will be able to use the Kindle app's in-text dictionary to help you with the terminology. I also suggest keeping multiple colors of highlights and notes in order to annotate the text/track ideas for better comprehension. Finally, it is extremely helpful to use the Kindle App annotation review pane; I tended to re-skim my notes as I read to make sure I understood correctly, and sorting notes by color helped me trace the development of key themes.

Similar to what Kelley says in his introduction of Robinson's book, Black Marxism has completely changed my outlook on the world in general, and the ideas and information posed (often times) keeps me awake at night. It provides a wide and in-depth background the philosophies, politics, economics, cosmologies, religions, and social environments that led to not only the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but also to the issues and predicaments that countries all over the West still face today. In this near 300-page essay (with probably double that in sources and/or footnotes), Robinson argues the existence of the Black Radical Tradition - the idea that peoples of African descent have a particular social culture and cosmology that explains their actions and reactions when coming into contact with struggles like enslavement and oppression. The Black Radical Tradition comes alive in its truest form in the pervasiveness of African maroons --> Black people not accepting the terms of the societies that sought to control them and their response of escaping and creating their own communities. This book has become like a Bible to me, is at the forefront of my conversations regarding social issue, and pleasantly invites readers to add to the discussion of this topic through continued research of Africana Studies.

This a wonderful anthology of Marxist / black literature. Some of the sections in this awesome book are as relevant now as when they were first written.Even if you’re white (as I am) you can’t help but be moved by this material. And, in places, angered too.A truly fantastic book.

An excellent survey and essential critical reading of the history of black resistance, it’s accomplishments, essences and possibilities via-a-vis that other theory of resistance: Marxism. Since it was published in 1983 we are due for an update on developments on the books own terms since then, plus the field of gender studies, but this will locate you very solidly nonetheless. Really, a remarkable work that might change you.