Marxism – Casselberry

Marxism and Eugene Genovese

Origins of Marxism

Marxism came directly after the empiricists, therefore, before being able to understand Marxism in total; there needs to be a general understanding of the empiricists. Occurring in the late 1700s, around the time of the scientific revolution, the empiricists were formed. The scientific method was used heavily for history and primary sources were preferred. The empiricists had a unique approach to historical research and the origins of this type of research stem from the Scientific Revolution. This included challenging the law and control of the Church and doing things with reason. Science was crucial at this time and a pivotal component to the empiricists. The empiricists brought challenges to the domination of the church. On the contrary, Marxism is heavily theory-based and has political, economic, and social ties. Shifting from empiricists, which was heavily science-based to Marxism which was about class conflict and revolution. Changed the way of writing history by introducing the concept of revolution Revolutionaries and the concept of revolution became huge in the historical world. Countries, people, and groups everywhere picked up the idea of revolution. Marxism originated from a man named Karl Marx, the co-founder of Communism. Marx was born in 1818 in Germany but spent his early life in Prussia and France. Paris in the 1840s was where revolutionary and socialist ideas occurred and originated. Originally, Marxism consisted of three related ideas, which were, a philosophical anthropology, a theory of history, and an economic and political program.^[1]

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Marxism as a Methodology

Furthermore, diving into Marxism as a methodology navigates to historical materialism. Historical materialism is to understand humans, you must understand what they do to satisfy their most basic needs. According to “Social Theory re-wired”, “Central to Marx’s thought is his theory of historical materialism, which argued that human societies and their cultural institutions (like religion, law, morality, etc.) were the outgrowth of collective economic activity.”^[3] However, Marx has a different definition, according to “Social Theory re-wired”, “it was material, economic forces—or our relationship to the natural, biological, and physical world—that drove the dialectic of change. More specifically, the engine of history rests in the internal contradictions in the system of material production (or, the things we do in order to produce what we need for survival).” Historical materialism is also known as dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism is known as political and historical events that result in a conflict of social forces. According to Green and Troup, “Historical materialism locates the central dynamic of human history in the struggle to provide for physiological and material needs: “life before everything else eating and drinking a habitation, clothing, and many other things.”^[4] Marxism is the most influential school of analysis within historical writing. Without economic structure, there is no society. Throughout history, there have been many types of societal structures, which are: 1. Ancient society, 2. Feudal society, 3. Capitalist society, and 4. Socialist society. Marx believed that socialism was the key to economic success. In a world where capitalism was on the rise, Marx recognized the issues with capitalism. There was overproduction of goods and exploitation of the workers. In a perfect utopian society according to Marx, the workers own the means of production. Marxism is about the social and class conflict, without conflict, Marxism would not exist. In order to overthrow the dominant class, subordinate people need to be aware of their oppression in order to do something about it. Overthrowing the capitalistic system is a key concept in Marxism. Without class conflict, there would be no new economic systems, because class conflict forces a new economic system. Marxism depends on conflict, without it, there would be no Marxism.

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Eugene Genovese Background 

Moreover, one historian who embodies Marxism is Eugene Genovese. Eugene was born on May 19, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of a dockworker. At age fifteen, he became a part of the Communist Party. His duration in the party lasted five years until he was expelled at age twenty. The reason for his being expelled was for disregarding party rules. Following his expulsion, Eugene went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, then served in the Army for ten months. Eugene was eventually discharged from the Army for his Communist past and ties. He continued to have Marxist thinking and ideas. Furthermore, Eugene went on to get both a master’s and Ph.D. from Columbia. He began going to dozens of colleges around the world and within the United States. He was also president of the Organization of American Historians from 1978 to 1979.^[6] In 1965, Eugene was a professor at Rutgers in New Jersey. During this time, he still was a Marxist and announced he was in fact a Marxist but no longer a part of the Communist Party. It was during this time that he stated that he was not fearful of Vietcong’s victory in Vietnam but rather welcomed it. These remarks caused a great amount of backlash on his part, where former President Richard Nixon denounced him. Having to backtrack a bit, Genovese insisted he did not mean to imply that he hoped American Servicemen would be killed and he was defended at Rutgers by the educational authorities. He would shortly leave Rutgers and teach at Sir George Williams University in Montreal. As Genovese got older he began to adopt more conservative ideas. In the late 1990s, he and his wife converted to Roman Catholicism and got remarried in the church twenty-six years after their first wedding. As time went on, he became more conservative in his philosophy, believing that religion should be taught in public schools, he opposed abortion and any laws protecting gay people. However, he never claimed to be a conservative, stating he did not align with the political right and insisting that he was uncomfortable around conservatives. Despite his turn in ideology, Eugene Genovese still brought great contributions to Marxism and the world of history.

Eugene Genovese: “Roll, Jordan, Roll”

To continue, Eugene Genovese wrote a book in 1974, called “Roll, Jordan, Roll”. This book explores the lives of antebellum slaves. It examines slavery through the lens of paternalism and social hegemony.^[7] It was the winner of the Bancroft Prize and “Roll, Jordan, Roll” was named “the best book ever written on slavery in the United States” by Michael Kazin of The New York Review of Books.^[8] Throughout the book, Genovese goes into his thesis which is that the antebellum American South was a society of paternalism. During the 1830s, slaveowners desired to appear as protectors to the slaves. This was because of the uprising and more frequent rebellions, as well as growing efforts by abolitionists to end slavery. He believes that slaves should not be ashamed for failing a rebellion, but rather, be honored and proud for trying under the “most discouraging circumstances”. Genovese states that slaveowners believed they considered it both a “duty and burden” to provide food, clothes, and shelter to their slaves. He said slaveowners believed they were giving the slaves comfort and stability that they would never be able to achieve on their own. According to Genovese, slaveowners felt they needed the gratitude of the slaves in order to feel like moral human beings. Genovese argues, “The slaves as an objective social class, laid the foundation for a separate black national culture while enormously enriching American culture as a whole.”^[9] Here, Genovese is addressing the difference in black culture that was created during the time, the foundations of black culture as we know it today were created during this time period. He also mentions the enrichment that African Americans made to American culture. African Americans brought great contributions to American culture, oftentimes, in ways many people do not realize. African Americans both created their own culture in the United States while enriching American culture as a whole. Many people saw this as Genovese sympathizing and providing an accepting attitude toward slavery while undermining its brutality. However, Genovese does not fail to recognize the inhumane, brutality of slavery. He claims that the slaveowners created a massive system of extreme exploitation and brutality. There is simply no denying the cruelty and evilness of slavery in the United States. In total, Eugene Genovese brought great contributions to the world of history and Marxism, as well as, a different perspective on slavery in the United States. Although he did eventually turn to a more conservative ideology, his Marxist origins remain.