Racism and the Class Struggle: Further Pages from a Black Worker's Notebook by James Boggs

Racism and the Class Struggle: Further Pages from a Black Worker's Notebook Reviews

• 
  Devin

  Oh my God. Absolutely one of the best books on class struggle and racism I've ever read. I think i highlighted and marked on every page of this book.
  
  James Boggs was someone I had heard about for awhile, and was admittedly hesitant towards because of his previously being a Trotskyist. However, upon learning that he and his wife Grace Lee Chin-Boggs abandoned Trotskyism and moved towards Third-Worldism, I became intrigued. This being my first dive into Third-Worldism, I didn't know what to expect. I got an incredible answer.
  
  James Boggs has intense, theoretical takedowns of not just racism, but of the united states, as to why it is inherently fascist and needs to be overthrown, turning instead to leadership of a Revolutionary Black Power movement. His essay in here: "Integration and Democracy: Two Myths that Have Failed" is one of the best, if not THE best, critique of the myth of democracy I've ever read, especially pertaining to "american democracy", which does not exist.
  
  He thoroughly lays bare the issues of white supremacy and white power within unions and the issues with integration, Black nationalism, and the Civil Rights Movement. He is careful to note that despite the momentous efforts and work of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, etc. these movements fell short of a Revolutionary Black movement for one reason or another.
  
  He also criticizes u.s. Marxists, especially white Marxists, for not taking seriously or as thoroughly the question of Black liberation and Black power, and for promoting the idea of Black and white worker unity without any clear solutions as to how to handle the permeating white supremacy and racism within white workers, which is a very real problem even I, as a white Communist, have been guilty of.
  
  Of course, there are criticisms to be had. Boggs praises Marx, Lenin, USSR, China, Cuba, DPRK, and Vietnam, among other socialist and communist camps, but never explicitly defines what he means by "revolutionary"; Third-Worldism often aligns with Maoism, or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, but MLMs typically disregard Cuba and the DPRK especially as being "revolutionary", so Boggs' praise of them, while correct, is unclear. But then again, this was way before Gonzalo and the Shining Path, so I am probably just unclear on what he defines as Third-Worldism. I see Boggs, judging from these texts, as a Marxist at the core certainly, but whether he aligns with Leninism or Maoism, I am unclear on.
  
  Boggs also, to me, takes an incorrect approach [and this is perhaps the only part of this where I saw his former Trotskyist tendencies comes out] to how Black power comes to power -- he suggests that Black people must become police officers and politicians among other capitalist occupations, while still informing the reader that police are inherently racist [they are]. His lean into entryism here contradicts many of his other points. He also [and I don't 100% blame him here; this was the 1960s and the rise of automation probably had everyone scared shitless] disregards many working class jobs as "meaningless", such as truck driving. Which is absolutely, to this day, not meaningless.
  
  I absolutely cannot recommend this book enough. I can go on and on and on about it, but I won't. James Boggs' books seen to be very difficult to find, and I was lucky to find this one at my alma mater's library. If you can get a physical copy, get it; you'll be scribbing all in it like I was. If you can handle not scribbling on every page, a PDF is probably available somewhere.
• 
  J.P.

  Easily now one of my favorite books. It's a collection of various speeches that James Boggs had given throughout the 60's & into the 70's. As not much has changed in regards to how this country functions, they are still relevant.
  
  Many ideas are explored. What does black power mean? Why is it important & necessary? What are the conditions, past & present, that are unique to the way black people represent a colonized group within the United States that must be accounted for in order to have a solid program to move forward for a conquest of power? The successes, failures & miscues of past leaders, groups & movements are explored so as to give an idea of what should or shouldn't be done in the future.
  
  Boggs also explores what it means to exist as a black person in this capitalist system. We are the very foundation for it & always will be so long as it remains in existence, we are the floor for which others are to stand. He has scathing critiques of liberalism, democracy itself & "black" capitalism. Two of my favorites, which are near the end of the book, are "The Myth & Irrationality of Black Capitalism" & "Uprooting Racism & Racists in the United States". The former I was excited to get to & was sure it'd be a favorite based on the title alone & it didn't disappoint, the latter was an unexpected gem & was pretty close to being my favorite of the two.
  
  One of the most important things I took away from this book was that for black people, no one can save us but ourselves. While we can possibly find allies in white leftists & even have some form of coalitions with them, our leftist politics will be different from that of white leftists & white working class laborers do not necessarily lean left, though personal experience shows us this easily, & while they are a force to be taken seriously, they seductive power of the dream, of climbing on our backs, of white supremacy will almost always lead them to side with the establishment & maintain the status quo.
  
  Excellent book. Boggs is definitely someone whose work everyone should dig into to understand what it is they want & how far they are willing to go.
• 
  Rodrigo Lm

  Interesantes los acercamientos a través de los cuales el autor da a entender que gran parte de los derechos que la población negra fue adquiriendo en los Estados Unidos fueron gracias, más que a verdaderas intenciones unificadoras, medios para fines más apremiantes de cada momento histórico.-