Working Class Forged Through Violence. W.E.B. Du Bois...

Working Class Forged Through Violence W.E.B. Du Bois challenges and modernizes Karl Marx view of Marxism in Black Reconstruction. Unlike Marx, he concludes that capitalism is imbedded in slavery and stresses that capital will use prison labor. In Capital, Vol. I, Marx neglects the role of violence in creating the working class. Du Bois emphasizes the use of violence used by capital to create a working class. Bloodshed is what allowed slaved to enter the working class. During the Civil War, slaves joined the Northern troops to changed the narrative of war and battled for freedom. The direct result of this triumph was the 13th Amendment, the abolition of slavery. Shortly after, confederate followers created agencies with the intention of†¦show more content†¦This was a pivotal point for the North, and the livelihood of slaves. Southerner s capital started to diminish because of the lack of slaves and the new troops began to shift the narrative of the war. Sometimes seen as the origin of the Civil War, the abolition of slavery was not germane until the use of slaves became imperative to conquer the confederacy. In Black Reconstruction Du Bois says, â€Å"When Northern armies entered the South they became armies of emancipation. It was the last thing they planned to be†¦ Freedom for slaves furnished no such slogan. Not one-tenth of the Northern white population would have fought for any such purpose† (55). He focuses on the position Northerns have on slaves before their introduction to the Union. Less than ten percent of their citizens were concerned with the abolition of slavery. In exchange to progress from slaves to proletarians, Black people joined the frontlines and were slaughtered. Du Bois states: Official figures were in all 186,017 Negro troops, of whom 123,156 were still in service, July 16, 1865; and that the losses during the war were 68,178. They took part in 298 battles and skirmishes. Without doubt, including servants, laborers and spies, between three and four hundred thousand Negroes helped as regular soldiers or laborers in winning the Civil War (Du Bois, 112). For capital to survive in the South, slavery was vital. Cheap laborShow MoreRelatedThe Black Panthers, By J. Wilson, And Marcus Garvey And The Unia3935 Words   |  16 Pagessystemic racism employed by the government to keep African Americans from organizing. In post-Civil War America a massive change had enveloped society. The southern states were defeated and the slaves were made free creating in almost an instant a new class of â€Å"citizens† entitled to basic rights as guaranteed by the constitution. Radical Republicans in Congress enacted such organizations like the Freedman’s Bureau which was tasked with integrating blacks into American society and helped with feeding programs