The radicalism of WEB Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr.

 
BY:Communist Party USA| January 10, 2018
The radicalism of WEB Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr.

Register for the webinar here.

As the debate between Cornell West and Ta-Nehisi Coates demonstrates, how to confront racism and capitalism remains at the top of the freedom movement’s agenda. Has all hope for defeating racism disappeared or is it possible by identifying its sources in capitalist empire to discover a means for combating its influence and rescuing both people of color and whites from the ideology’s influence?

Both issues were at the center of the lives and work of WEB Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr., who as they matured, developed an increasingly radical critique of U.S. capitalism and imperialism.  Du Bois had said famously that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line” and early on saw imperialist conflict as its outgrowth pointing to the African roots of World War I.  Martin Luther King Jr. while early in his career following the lead of the civil rights movement focused on combating de jure segregation, as time went by saw the link between the bombs that drop in Vietnam and why they are “exploding at home.”

Upon Du Bois’s death in 1963 and King’s death in 1968, both had grown more radical in their critique aimed at capitalism – and concerned about America’s anti-communist sentiments.

The radical critique of capitalism of both Du Bois and King  and their lessons for today will be the subject of a webinar led by Professor Ed Carson on Sunday January 14th at 8:00 PM.

By exploring their interpretation of biblical literature, images, and shared concerns about capitalism, this session elevates the often forgotten struggles against capitalism by Du Bois in the year of his 150th birthday, and the emerging radical capacity of King in the 50th year of his death.

You can register for the webinar here.

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    The Communist Party USA is a  revolutionary working-class  political party founded in 1919 in Chicago, IL. The Communist Party stands for the interests of the American working class and the American people. It stands for our interests in both the present and the future. Solidarity with workers of other countries is also part of our work. We work in coalition with the labor movement, the peace movement, the student movement, organizations fighting for equality and social justice, the environmental movement, immigrants rights groups and the health care for all campaign. But to win a better life for working families, we believe that we must go further. We believe that the American people can replace capitalism with a system that puts people before profit — socialism. We are rooted in our country's revolutionary history and its struggles for democracy. We call for "Bill of Rights" socialism, guaranteeing full individual freedoms.

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