Watch the full-length introduction to Marx 10/13 here:
The philosopher Cornel West and Bernard E. Harcourt read and discuss
Marx’s A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy and
Capital Vol 1 in conversation with Cedric Robinson’s Black Marxism
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Columbia University, New York
We now reach, on our year-long journey, the most famous political economic writings of Marx—first, his publication of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy in 1859 and, second, the release of his magnum opus, Capital, Volume I, in 1867.
In this session, Marx 10/13, we read Marx through the lens of Cedric Robinson’s landmark work, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. Although famous today, Robinson’s book almost fell through the cracks when it was published, and likely would have had it not been for a provocative book review published in the Monthly Review in 1988 by Cornel West, who at the time was professor of religion and director of the Afro-American Studies Program at Princeton University.
Cornel West shattered what critics would later call the “conspiracy of silence” that surrounded Robinson’s book. In West’s characteristic way, he propelled Black Marxism into contemporary debate. For this and many other reasons, it is an absolute privilege and honor to welcome our dear colleague and friend—and a faithful friend to these 13/13 seminars—Dr. Cornel West, back to Columbia University and to Marx 13/13.
