For the seminar Marx 7/13, we propose that you focus on the following passages of the texts we will be reading:
Regarding Class Struggles in France, please read Engels’s 1895 introduction, which is striking because it bears so many resemblances to today. In Class Struggles (the International Publishers edition from 1964), please pay special attention to the passages on pages 40-42, 50-52, 58-59, and 116-117.
In Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction in America (the Free Press edition), please focus on page 121; on the chapter on the General Strike (Chapter 4) especially pages 62-63 and 67-68; and on the chapter on South Carolina, “The Black Proletariat in South Carolina” (Chapter 10), including the first footnote of the chapter attached to the title on page 381 (which incidentally really ties in with the 1895 introduction by Engels) and pages 383-386. Please also look at the structured bibliography.
In addition, there are two passages from Du Bois’ Black Flame Trilogy, a trilogy of novels that Du Bois published between 1957 and 1961), that are relevant and that Gayatri Spivak will discuss as well. There are snapshots of those passages here and here.
Please also review the three slides that Gayatri Spivak has prepared for the seminar, available here.
Bernard Harcourt would also recommend reading Gayatri Spivak’s essay “General Strike” that has been added to the posts on the landing page for Marx 7/13.
Good readings and see you at the seminar,
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Bernard E. Harcourt
January 25, 2025