Black Folk, Then and Now and the Late Du Bois’ Marxist Dialectic

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine Du Bois’ positive engagement with the Marxist dialectical categories that are the corner-stone of the politico-philosophical tradition, as in Berteli Oilman's Dance of The Dialectic and Fredrich Engels’ Anti-Duhring. Du Bois’ relationship to Marxism remains downplayed and understudied due to anti-communist historiography and postmodernist interpretations. W. E. B. Du Bois’ 1939 work Black Folk, Then and Now demonstrates the centrality of Marxist dialectics to his work, clarifying his philosophical and historiographical development after completing Black Reconstruction. This abstract and philosophical reading of Black Folk, Then and Now reveals not merely that the late Du Bois’ radicalism can be categorized as Marxian but also that his late works cannot be understood without an understanding of Marxist political economy and philosophy, revealing that Black Folk, Then and Now is a centerpiece of the scholar-activist's intellectual development.