By Bernard E. Harcourt “In the last century it became evident that a society based on slave labor could not exist side by side with one organized on the principle of free labor. The same holds true in our… Continue Reading
By Bernard E. Harcourt In Abolition Democracy 6/13, our seminar turns to the question of the abolition of capital and capitalism. Our challenge is to reimagine and resituate contemporary social movements for the abolition of capital within the framework of… Continue Reading
By Paul Maple Carpenter In a curious – but suggestive – turn, the discussion of “Abolition Democracy,” as developed by W. E. B. Du Bois in his book Black Reconstruction in America, focused not so much on Abolition Democracy’s theoretical groundings,… Continue Reading
By Bernard E. Harcourt The philosopher Amy Allen draws our attention, brilliantly, to a deep tension in the thought of both Marx and Du Bois, one that can be formulated as a question: If we equate wage labor to slavery,… Continue Reading
By Étienne Balibar During Abolition 5/13, I made reference to the Marx-Bakunin matter. Let me elaborate here. The “conspectus” (or critical notes) of Marx after his reading of Bakunin’s book Statism and Anarchy in Russian were written in 1874-1875 in… Continue Reading
By Amy Allen E. B. Dubois’s Black Reconstruction revolutionized the historiography of the Civil War. DuBois’s reading challenged then dominant modes of interpretation by giving agency to the slaves, making the case that they freed themselves by abandoning Southern plantations… Continue Reading
By Étienne Balibar “The expropriators are expropriated”: This is one of Marx’s most celebrated sentences, which is to be found towards the end of the chapter on « The Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation », Chapter 32 of section 8… Continue Reading
By Bernard E. Harcourt “What is a picklock to a bank share? What is the burgling of a bank to the founding of a bank? What is the murder of a man to the employment of a man?” —… Continue Reading
By Bernard E. Harcourt The police in New York City, Chased a boy right through the park. In a case of mistaken identity, They put a bullet through his heart. Heartbreakers, with your forty-four, I want to tear… Continue Reading