Marxism and racial oppression toward a unified theory

Abstract

Anti-racist debate on the Marxist left remains polarized between “class reductionist” (any at-tempt to address racial disparities reinforces capitalist class relations) and “liberal identity” (disparities in racial representation can be resolved without questioning class inequality) pol-itics. Both positions share a common perspective – racial oppression and class exploitation are the products of distinctive social dynamics whose relationship is historically contingent. This essay is an initial step toward a unified theory of capitalism and racial oppression, where their relationship is structurally necessary. Following Anwar Shaikh and Howard Botwin-ick’s elaboration of Marx’s political economy, we argue that real capitalist accumulation and competition necessarily differentiates labor processes, profit rates and wage rates within and between branches of production. We then attempt to root racialization – the division of hu-manity into distinct groups with unchangeable characteristics that make some groups inher-ently superior and others inherently inferior – in the lived experience of capitalist social prop-erty relations. Finally, the essay examines historical examples of how race provides a “mental road map” of the lived experience of capitalist social relations for both capitalist and workers.