WASHINGTON, DC, November 20 — Over 100 students and workers from four local universities and many job sites jammed a Howard University conference room today to hear a panel discussion entitled “A Conversation on Racism and Capitalism.” The conference was organized in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Studies Association.
The panel was brought together by a sociology professor from the University of California. She initiated this conference because she was concerned that university discussions of racism had become disconnected from racism’s source: the capitalist exploitation of the working class. The seven panelists included historians, economists, political scientists and sociologists who discussed the many aspects of the indelible link between racism and the capitalist system.
The fact is the bosses reap several hundred billion dollars in super-profits from the racist and sexist difference in family income between white workers, as compared to that of black, Latino, and Asian workers, as well as women workers.
During the question-and-answer period, an engineering professor asked whether a party was needed to overthrow racist capitalism. The panel members generally danced around this question, leaving it to a PL’er in the audience to carefully explain why, in fact, a revolutionary party was needed to unify all sectors of the working class and its allies around the goal of communism and the elimination of racism, sexism and the wage system.
The participants expressed great appreciation to the panel. Several said that capitalism’s drive to maximize profit by minimizing wages for workers was helped by racist divisions and oppression. They said that now they had much better understanding of how capitalism requires racism to work for the very rich.
The next step is the launching of a Marxist Study Circle in January. Over 25 conference participants said they would join such a group. Preparations are well underway.  Anyone in the Washington-Baltimore area who is interested may sign up by completing a short survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WS8LD5J.