Although modern racism was fully developed by their time,
Marx (and Engels) did not engage in a theoretical discussion
of its essential features. This analytical silence is
investigated in the chapter Marx and Haiti: Notes on
a Blank Space. At the same time, the chapters of this
volume demonstrate that and why the principles of a
historical materialist analysis of society present links for
a critical theory of racism. In the chapter
Dehumanization and Social Death: Fundamentals of
Racism, this is shown concerning the various historical
shapes of racisms caused by different forms of class
relations. The chapter Racismflq: Birth of a
Concept connects the conceptual history of racism with the
socio-historical conflicts of differently affected social
groups. Finally, the chapter A Historical
Materialist Theory of Racism: Introduction addresses basic
elements of a Marxist analysis of racism. It elucidates the
necessity of a theoretical conjunction of classist and
racist discrimination as well as the historical
differentiation of racisms.
