Marx, Tocqueville and Race in America: The "Absolute Democracy" or "Defiled Republic"

by August H. Nimtz Jr.

While Alexis de Tocqueville described America as the 'absolute democracy,' Karl Marx saw the nation as a 'defiled republic' so long as it permitted the enslavement of blacks. In this insightful political history, Nimtz argues that Marx and his partner, Frederick Engels, had a far more acute and insightful reading of American democracy than Tocqueville because they recognized that the overthrow of slavery and the cessation of racial oppression were central to its realization. Nimtz's account contrasts both the writings and the civil action of Tocqueville, Marx and Engels, noting that Marx and Engels actively mobilized the German-American community in opposition to the slavocracy prior to the Civil War, and that Marx heavily supported the Union cause. This potent and insightful investigation into the approaches of two major thinkers provides fresh insight into past and present debates about race and democracy in America.

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

August H. Nimtz is Professor of Political Science and African American and African Studies and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota, USA. He is the author of Marx and Engels: Their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough (2000), Marx, Tocqueville, and Race in America: The 'Absolute Democracy' or 'Defiled Republic' (2003), and a number of related articles in edited volumes and journals.

Reviews

[Marc Lichtman]

In high school our English teacher, who was quite progressive had us read Tocqueville's Democracy in America'Democracy in America, although we only made it through the first volume. I didn't know quite what to make of it at the time. August Nimitz does, and he compares it to Marx and Engels' writings on the US.

A bit academic for my taste, but a solid work. To read Marx's most important writings on the US, read The Civil War in the United States. It has a terrible introduction, and should have included a few more articles, but it's what is easily available. I also recommend reading Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877: The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction, and America's Revolutionary Heritage.