A Marxist IQ for W.E. B. Dubois and E.E. Clay
E.E. Clay has been perhaps the most insightful responder to my and other writers’ blog articles on our blog. Among his most insightful comments have been references to Dr. W.E.B. Dubois. For that reason, I am dedicating this month’s Marxist IQ to W.E. B. Dubois and E.E. Clay. Without readers, writers would be speaking to and for themselves, which is praised in bourgous criticism but has no purpose in Marxist analysis
1. In his classic study, Black Reconstruction, W.E. B. Dubois saw
a. the slaveholder’s launching of the war to save slavery as essential to destroying slavery
b. The resistance of the slaves during the war , undermining the Confederate economy, as the most important factor in the Confederate/slaveholder defeat
c. The struggle to build a “united front” of former slaves and landless poor whites as the revolutionary possibility of Reconstruction
d. All of the above
2. In his early classic study, Souls of Black Folk, Dubois contended that
a. the major question of the 20th century will be the question of the middle class
b. the major question of the 20th century will by the question of economic growth
c. the major question of the 20th century will be the question of the color line
d. the major question of the 20th century will be the question of political democracy
3. When Dubois in the early 20th century developed the concept of the “talented tenth” of the African-American people, he meant
a. encouraging the African-American masses to emulate African-American business
owners
b. Integrating the “talented tenth” of the African American people into the middle and upper echelons of U.S. society
c. Seeing the “talented tenth,” those with education and skills, as a vanguard mobilizing the African American people to fight for full political and social equality
d. training the “talented tenth,” those with education and skills, to act as administrators over the African-American people the way the colonialists sought to train such groups from the indigenous population in colonies
4. Along with being a founder of the NAACP and the longtime editor of its journal The Crisis. W.E. B. Dubois
a. ran for president as a socialist against Woodrow Wilson
b. supported the Back to Africa philosophy of Marcus Garvey
c. led a delegation to fight for the liberation of Africa from colonial domination at the
Versailles Conference
d. Urged African-Americans to remain loyal to the Republican party
5. Although he faced great persecution in the cold war era,(removal from the leadership of the NAACP, the organization of which he was a major founder, arrest for his opposition to the Korean War, the loss of his passport and the removal of his books from U.S. libraries here and abroad) Dubois remained a revolutionary optimist, as seen by
a. his settling in Ghana to become an advisor to Kwame Nkrumah, the socialist oriented independence leader, once the courts over-ruled the state department to give him back his passport
b. his joining, shortly before his death in Ghana at the age of 93, the CPUSA as a gesture of resistance and contempt to the forces he had fought all of his life
c. His observation that the defeat of both fascism and colonialism in WWII had created a world revolutionary situation among the exploited and oppressed peoples of the world making an end to capitalism, racism and imperialism possible in the foreseeable future
d. al
E.E. Clay has been perhaps the most insightful responder to my and other writers’ blog articles on our blog. Among his most insightful comments have been references to Dr. W.E.B. Dubois. For that reason, I am dedicating this month’s Marxist IQ to W.E. B. Dubois and E.E. Clay. Without readers, writers would be speaking to and for themselves, which is praised in capitalist criticism but has no purpose in Marxist analysis
1. In his classic study, Black Reconstruction, W.E. B. Dubois saw
a. the slaveholders' launching of the war to save slavery as essential to destroying slavery
b. The resistance of the slaves during the war , undermining the Confederate economy, as the most important factor in the Confederate/slaveholder defeat
c. The struggle to build a “united front” of former slaves and landless poor whites as the revolutionary possibility of Reconstruction
d. All of the above
2. In his early classic study, Souls of Black Folk, Dubois contended that
a. the major question of the 20th century will be the question of the middle class
b. the major question of the 20th century will by the question of economic growth
c. the major question of the 20th century will be the question of the color line
d. the major question of the 20th century will be the question of political democracy
3. When Dubois in the early 20th century developed the concept of the “talented tenth” of the African-American people, he meant
a. encouraging the African-American masses to emulate African-American business owners
b. Integrating the “talented tenth” , those with education and skills, of the African American people into the middle and upper echelons of U.S. society
c. Seeing the “talented tenth,” those with education and skills, as a vanguard mobilizing the African American people to fight for full political and social equality
d. training the “talented tenth,” those with education and skills, to act as administrators over the African-American people the way the colonialists sought to train such groups from the indigenous population in colonies
4. Along with being a founder of the NAACP and the longtime editor of its journal The Crisis. W.E. B. Dubois
a. ran for president as a socialist against Woodrow Wilson
b. supported the Back to Africa philosophy of Marcus Garvey
c. led a delegation to fight for the liberation of Africa from colonial domination at the
Versailles Conference
d. urged African-Americans to remain loyal to the Republican party
5. Although he faced great persecution in the cold war era,(removal from the leadership of the NAACP, the organization of which he was a major founder, arrest at the age of 82 for his opposition to the Korean War, the loss of his passport and the removal of his books from U.S. libraries here and abroad) Dubois remained a revolutionary optimist, as seen by
a. his settling in Ghana to become an advisor to Kwame Nkrumah, the socialist oriented independence leader, once the courts over-ruled the state department to give him back his passport
b. his joining, shortly before his death in Ghana at the age of 93, the CPUSA as a gesture of resistance and contempt to the forces he had fought all of his life
c. His observation that the defeat of both fascism and colonialism in WWII had created a world revolutionary situation among the exploited and oppressed peoples of the world making an end to capitalism, racism and imperialism possible in the foreseeable future
d. all of the above
