New Books in Critical Theory

August H. Nimtz and Kyle A. Edwards, "The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution" (Brill, 2024)

Jan 17, 2025

August H. Nimtz, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, and Kyle A. Edwards, a curriculum administrator and class struggle researcher, explore the interplay of revolutionary liberalism and communism. They delve into the significance of historical figures like Marx and Douglass during the Civil War. Their discussion connects these ideas to modern movements like Black Lives Matter. They also critique how historical narratives, such as the 1619 Project, overlook class struggles, emphasizing the importance of grassroots activism over traditional politics.

01:42:19

Episode guests

August Nimtz

Kyle Edwards

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

The podcast underscores the historical significance of Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass in shaping contemporary understandings of racial oppression and emancipation.

Douglass's evolution from pacifism to radical activism highlights the importance of political engagement and voting rights for achieving true freedom.

Marx critiques liberal politics and emphasizes that genuine emancipation demands radical societal restructuring to address deep-seated economic inequalities.

Deep dives

Revisiting the Politics of Emancipation

The podcast emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context of racial oppression and emancipation, particularly through the analysis of figures like Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass. It discusses how both thinkers addressed the issues of their time, with Douglass emerging as a key voice in the abolitionist movement and advocating for civil rights. The discussion reveals that while both scholars recognized the significance of the Civil War in advancing freedom, they brought different political ideologies to their evaluations of emancipation. By studying their writings, the exploration aims to extract lessons on the necessary political frameworks required for genuine liberation and equity today.

Intro

2min

Emancipation and Political Thought

9min

Historical Context and Contemporary Struggles for Equality

6min

Frederick Douglass and Political Evolution

33min

Contrasting Freedoms: Douglass, Marx, and Engels

18min

The Tensions of Revolutionary Politics and Liberal Ideologies in the Lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X

4min

Critique of the 1619 Project: Race vs. Class in American History

5min

Mass Movements vs. Electoral Politics

17min

The last decade has seen a resurgence of interest and urgency to questions of racial oppression and emancipation. We’ve now had about a decade of activists fighting for the idea that Black Lives Matter which eventually culminated in the summer of 2020 with millions taking to the streets. The actual concrete victories have been more of a mixed bag, which leads us to the question: what sort of politics are needed to achieve real emancipation? This led Kyle Edwards and August Nimtz back to the American Civil War, and more specifically to the writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass. Both wrote quite prolifically on the events that were happening and were enthusiastic about its possibilities for the advancement of human freedom, but both brought some very different political values and ideas to their analysis. In studying these two figures together, Edwards and Nimtz are able to show how both a fight for Communism rooted in class struggle and a revolutionary liberalism rose to this profound historical moment. The result is The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution: Comparing Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass in Real-Time (Brill, 2024), a study with a concrete answer to the question of what sort of politics will be needed going forward.

Published as part of the Historical Materialism book series by Brill and Haymarket.

Kyle Edwards is a Curriculum Administrator at the University of Minnesota, and a member of AFSCME 3800.

August Nimtz is a professor in the political science department at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of numerous books, including Marxism versus Liberalism: Comparative Real-Time Political Analysis and The Ballot, the Streets―or Both: From Marx and Engels to Lenin and the October Revolution.

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New Books in Critical Theory

August H. Nimtz and Kyle A. Edwards, "The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution" (Brill, 2024)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Revisiting the Politics of Emancipation

Douglass's Political Evolution

Marx's Perspective on Class and Slavery

The Limits of Reconstruction

Contemporary Political Movements

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts