W.E.B. Du Bois embodied the best of theory and praxis in a remarkable life of emancipatory scholarship and activism. In this Issue of FTL, we honor his manifold contributions to the USA and, as his vision expanded and knowledge increased, to the whole world... especially the poor capitalist countries whose labor, wealth and blood feeds the rich capitalist countries.

W.E.B. Du Bois was born in Massachusetts in 1868. He died 95 years later after living through more ages and epochs with more insight more courage than most of us in most of history. A remarkable man made more remarkable by the forces of racism and state power arrayed against him. To W.E.B. Du Bois, we pause and pay tribute.

**Du Bois graduated from Fisk in 1888.
**Du Bois was the first Afro-American Ph.D. at Harvard.
**His book on the Slave Trade was the first in the Harvard Historical Series.
**His book on the Philadelphia Negro were early efforts in both the sociology of racism and in urban sociology.
**He was one of the Founders of the NAACP and lived to see it captured by complacent 'leaders' and turned against his effort to make visible the political economy of racism and discrimination.
**He founded and contributed to the influential journal, Crisis, from which much of this tribute comes.
**Du Bois joined the socialist party in 1911 and, as he grew in age and experience, became a full-blown marxist by the 1950's.
**Du Bois joined the Communist Party, USA, in 1960.
**Du Bois founded the Peace Information Center and, along with many other such creative and original sources of inspiration gave much to America and much to the world.

Much of what follows comes from the W.E.B. Du Bois Reader put together by DAVID LEVERING LEWIS ... to which we refer the reader interested in learning more about this learned man. We begin with a paper from 1897.

ON RACE: Du Bois accepted the naive racial categories of his time. He posited 8 such races early on, and attributed to each its own message and its own particular ideal. But Du Bois was observant enough to note that, as great waves of warfare and migration occurred, race as a concept was replaced by membership in geographical region... cities. Much of the physical basis for race disappeared but still Du Bois spoke of and worked for a time when; "I, among the gaily-colored banners that deck the broad ramparts of civilization. I a Black one, fashioned by Black hands, 'hallowed by the travail of 200,000,000 black hearts', should raise and fly proudly with those of the other seven races." Du Bois saw Afro-Americans as the vanguard of the development of the black race and worked to create a 'talented tenth' to lead the way in art, music, science, politics, literature and poetry as well as in the professions.

As the carrier of this Black awakening and empowerment, Du Bois saw the need for Negro Organizations, Negro Colleges, Negro Newspapers, Negro Businesses, Negro schools of art and literature as well as an 'intellectual clearing house which we might call an Academy.' Du Bois called for the relentless and honest criticism of Black Americans by Black Americans... not to humble and degrade but to help and transform. In that essay, written nearly one hundred years ago, Du Bois set forth a Creed for his new Academy:

1. The Black Race has a contribution to make to civilization and humanity that can be made by no other race.
2. Americans of Negro descent should maintain racial identity and militant activity until a time that the ideal of human brotherhood can be realized.
3. It is possible for whites and colored people in the USA to live together in peace and mutual happiness. Political, religious and economic harmony is requisite for this.
4. Without calling for social equality which dismissed all 'human likes and dislikes', Du Bois called for a social equilibrium, which would give due consideration for talent, ability and moral worth whether they be found under a white or a black skin.
5. The first place to start is with the social problems created by slavery... immorality, crime and laziness of the Negroes themselves.
6. The second great step is recognition and selection on the basis of ability in economic and intellectual life, regardless of race.
7. on the basis of the foregoing Declaration and firmly believing in our high destiny, we, as American Negroes, are resolved to strive in every honorable way for... the rearing of a race ideal in American and Africa... to the Glory of God and the uplifting of the Negro people.

As Du Bois grew and learned from his efforts to lead American Negroes to the fullness of their humanity, his efforts soon expanded to include all of what he called the Black Race... the effort became to create a 'talented tenth' in the USA to lead all Blacks to the fullness of their humanity and, in his view, take their place among the other 7 races of the world.

IN HIS LATER YEARS, Du Bois expanded his mission and his means. He began to include class, gender and nationalism along race as the source of much mischief to the human project. In Part II, we pay homage to this expanded version of emancipatory scholarship and enlivening politics.

On Gender. Du Bois was one of the most militant feminists of the early 20th century. His interest in feminism began with his essay on 'The Black Mother [1912] in which he praised Black women for their great courage under great oppressions. In his essay on 'Woman Suffrage [1917] he said the actual work of the world was done more by women than by men. And he noted that claims that women are weaker than men are 'Pure rot.' ... the same sort of thing we hear about 'darker races,' and 'lower classes.' On Rape. In a 1957 essay, Sex and Racism, Du Bois heaped scorn on those white males who claimed the right to rape black women in order to protect white women. And lynching was necessary in order to protect white women and to protect the white home.

On War. His reflections on WWI and WWII helped consolidate his vision on the sources of oppression and exploitation beyond race. His first concern was with the very involvement of Negroes in the military. They are subject to a forced draft; they are trained separately; they are sent to the South to be vilified and brutalized. As to the war itself, Du Bois said., 'We trace the origins of war [not to concern with democracy and freedom but to] ... the fierce rivalry among European nations in their effort to use darker and backward people for... selfish gain.'

Later, in WWII, Du Bois urged Blacks to close ranks and fight against Hitler and fascism. He said, 'This is our Country; we worked for it, we have suffered in it, we have tinged its ideals, its poetry, its religion, its dreams ... and nothing, humanly speaking, can prevent us from eventually reaching here the full stature of our [humanity]. Finally, Du Bois said he was less sure of war and warfare; 'I was, perhaps, thinking too narrowly of the interest of my group and letting the world go to hell, if the black man went free.

On Pacifism: Both Gandhi and ML King advocated pacifism but Gandhi had an economic plan while King focussed only on race. In these essays, Du Bois added political economy to race and gender as social obstacles to human being. Du Bois would have understood the implications the assassinations of King since King, too had expanded his vision to include class along with race as hostile to liberation.

On Progress: An essay in 1948 was optimistic tone and factual report of the progress made and progress possible in the USA. Increased participation of Afro-Americans in cities,, jobs, unions, professions, academia, politics, law, science and the arts fueled this positive view of progress for Afro-Americans in the USA.

At the same time,, longevity increased for Blacks, race hate, lynching has decreased. The dogma of race has been widely challenged and the existence of 'inferior, races denied. Intermarriage more widely accepted. There is not a single field on American Culture in which some Negro is not outstanding. All this in 1943.

On China. Du Bois visited China three times ... he was impressed. So was China; at one time, a national day celebrated his birth. Socialism brought both job security and social justice to hundreds of millions of Chinese peoples. The status of women was greatly improved. The divine slavery of the past in China was gone... gone forever.

On Third Parties. Du Bois tried working within party politics. But both his socialism and their capitalism failed. He quite both institutional politics and socialist politics. In 1924, he supported La Follette's Progressive party. Du Bois supported FDRoosevelt in all four of his campaigns... but, looking back on fifty years of politics,, Du Bois said they took second place to his study of American Society and his efforts to combine theory and praxis.

On Integration of Labor Struggles. In a 1933 essay, 'Marxism and the Negro Problem,' Du Bois said that the class enemy was the white worker as much as the white capitalist. 'It is white labor which denies the Negro of his right to vote, denies him education, expels him from decent houses and neighborhoods.'

But, in a 1947 essay, 'Behold the Land,' Du Bois accepted that working class solidarity across class lines had been too long delayed. His early objections to class struggle was more with the racism among white socialists than in socialism itself. In a 1953 essay, 'Negroes and the Crisis of Capitalism in the United States," Du Bois echoed the sweeping language of the Manifesto. He concluded that, I ... when the whole caste structure finally does fall, Negroes will be divided into classes even more sharply than now, and the main mass will become a part of the working class of the nation and the world, which will surely go socialist.,

We will leave Du Bois on this most trenchant of marxian insights. Had he lived to deploy his great genius and deep compassion today, he would have much to say about the collapse of bureaucratic socialism and much to say about democratic socialism. As he is dead and we are not, we pay homage to Du Bois as to Marx by creating our own theory and praxis, which if it is as good as was theirs in their time, we shall have done well. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois remains a model for all radical and progressive scholars. His life is a social history of race relations in the USA. His wide sweeping genius and wide ranging humanism stands as it own memorial to the possibilities of a human life. To Du Bois, we give all good and proper honor.

ATTEND: Section on Marxist Sociology. Business Meeting!! Monday, 19 Aug: 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

SESSION 335: Monday, 19 Aug: 10:30-11:30 a.m., Refereed Roundtables:

1. Marxist Analyses of Racial Disputes
2. Political Economy and Non-Traditional Families
3. The Poor as a Social Problem
4. Class Conflict on Daytime Talk Shows
6. Technology and Social Class
7. Professional Lives of Sociologists
8. Theoretical Issues in the Marxist Analysis of Development Table
9. Inequality and Class Formation in Brazil
10. The Public Sphere in an Uncivil Society

**SESSION 383/ASA/NY: MARXISM and Social Transformation: Opportunities, Constraints, and Struggles. Monday, Aug. 19th: 2:30 pm. Papers on the Old State Machinery, Challenges to Women in Post-Independent Colonies, Class and Inequality in Central Europe, Collapse of the Soviet Union.

**SESSION 402/ASA/NY: the DIALECTICS of RESISTANCE. Papers include: Critique of Communitarianism, Resisting Nativism, White Supremacists and Electoral Politics, Resistance to the Right.

GRADUATE STUDENT PAGE

NEW ADDRESS FOR THE SOCGRAD NETWORK!!! Information about graduate programs in sociology as well as problems common to all grad students. INSTRUCTIONS: type: <LISTSPROC@CSF.COLORADO.EDU> Then type: SUB SOCGRAD YOUR_NAME.

ATTEND the 1996 Meetings of the Association for Humanist Sociology. Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 1996 at the Holiday Inn in Hartford, Ct.. THEME: Social Equity, decentralization, and participation, East and West. Bases for a globally relevant sociology. JOHN LEGGETT, Rutgers, is Program Chair. Send ideas to him.

**NEW Graduate Student Paper Award. The Conflict, Social Action and Change Division of SSSP has established an Award for a grad student paper that address issues of relevance to the Division. The focus of the Division this year is peace and conflict, activist scholarship, social change, community activism and university/community relations. SEND papers to: NANCY A. NAPLES: Sociology, Ucal at Irvine, 92717. Fax: 714-824-7417.

**AFRO-AMERICAN GRAD STUDENTS: attend the ASSOCIATION OF BLACK SOCIOLOGISTS: NEW YORK: August 14-17, 1996...and attend two sessions organized by grad students: 1) "Matrices of domination: critical Issues Surrounding the Interaction of Gender, Race and Class." 2) "When "Just-us" Reigns: Critical Perspectives on the Relationship between Crime and Inequality." CONTACT: Bruce@server.sasw.ncsu.edu OR Johnson@server.sasw.ncsu.edu

**ATTEND: Session 348/ASA/New York/August: Special Student Session. Managing Diversity Issues in the Classroom: A Workshop for Students, Teaching Assistants, and Teaching Associates: This workshop is intended to be an open discussion and strategy sharing session among students at various levels. Participants are encouraged to bring to the session any questions, anecdotes, or "tried and true" solutions to some of the problems arising out of discussions of "diversity" in the college/university sociology classroom.

**the AL SZYMANSKI STUDENT AWARD: Nominate a grad student for this award in memory of our good colleague, Al Szymanski. As a grad student, Al and others set up radical caucuses and parallel meetings at the professional conferences at ASA, PSA, MSS and elsewhere. There are dozens of Al Szymanski's now coming into the fullness of their theory and praxis of emancipatory sociology. Do send NOMINATIONS to MARTIN MURRAY, at SUNY-BINGHAMTON, 13901.

**GRAD STUDENT sessions at ASA/NY/AUGUST: Topics include: Theory, Marxism, Culture, Mental Health, Constructionism/Phenomenology, Drugs and Alcoholism, Art and Literature, Deviance, Population and Demography, Qualitative Methods and a Potpourri session. CONTACT: Jerry Williams: <jwill@ksuvm.ksu.edu>.

***********************
**Send your best research papers to T.R. Young to be considered for the RED FEATHER AWARD for progressive scholarship. Grad Students who have won the Award include:
1. James Yarbrough, Texas Woman's University; on Chaos Theory.
2. Vincent Roscigno, North Carolina State; various pubs.
3. Heidi Henrickson, Texas Woman's University; Women in Sociology.
4. Marino Bruce, North Carolina State: Leadership in the profession.
5. Jacqueline Johnson, North Carolina State: Leadership in the profession.
6. Sven Johnson, Florida State University: Private Policing.
7. Timothy Chester, Texas A&M: Postmodern essays.
8. Brian Ault, U. Minnesota: on Obstacles for Grad Students.
9. Melissa Herman, Stanford University: on Tracking in High Schools.
10. Daniel Harrison, Florida State University: on the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
11. Sean Noonan, Kansas State University; on Commodification Theory.

**SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON-LINE: A new refereed electronic journal of sociology: the first issue was published at the end of March. To see the journal, you will need a World Wide Web browser running on your computer. This will let you read the journal and print copies of the articles: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/. The journal is edited by MARTIN BULMER of the University of Surrey and LIZ STANLEY, University of Manchester, with VICTORIA ALEXANDER, University of Surrey, and SUE HEATH, University of Manchester, as review editors. For those without access to www: email: socres@soc.surrey.ac.uk

***Duplicate and Distribute to all Grad Students in your Department***
**EMMA GOLDMAN ON-LINE: Emma Goldman (1869-1940) stands as a major figure in the history of American radicalism and feminism. An influential and well-known anarchist of her day, Goldman was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, women's equality and independence, union organization, and the eight-hour work day. Her criticism of mandatory conscription of young men into the military during World War I led to a two-year imprisonment, followed by her deportation in 1919. For the rest of her life until her death in 1940, she continued to participate in the social and political movements of her age, from the Russian Revolution to the Spanish civil war. The site offers reproductions of photographs, correspondence, government documents, telegrams, and handbills relating to Emma Goldman and her contemporaries. In addition, the site provides an extensive index to papers relating to her life held by libraries around the world. other features include essays, a chronology of her life, and an annotated exhibition of key materials. The Emma Goldman Papers Web site is a joint project of the Emma Goldman Papers Project, University of California, Berkeley and the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE. VISIT: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/

**THE STEWARDS PLANETARY HOUSE is a new inquiry-based way of life, social movement, and planetary institution which we refer to as 'the other way to live'. A central purpose of the SPH is to organize the planetary underclass as the 'Stewards' or caretakers of the world. Stewards will work together to build the Stewards Planetary House as their 'organized planetary intelligence, - a planet-wide 'house of the underclass' which is: a) planetarily-networked ; b) informationally-integrated; c) locally land-based, and d) available to, and at the service of, unemployed people, working poor people, members of the 'non-traditional' highly-educated underclass, and all others throughout the planet who may be won over to Stewardship or caring for the earth. Email: <esommer@direct.ca>

**WORKING ASSETS: An Investment/Phone/Credit Card organization which sponsors PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE as well as ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM. Many Progressive Scholars use these services as a way to divert part of corporate profits into: **PACIFICA and NPR**FLASH ACTIVIST NETWORK**ACORN**CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND**NATIONAL BLACK WOMAN'S HEALTH PROJECT**AFSC**DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS**HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH**PEACE ACTION**EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE**GREENPEACE**ARTISTS FOR A HATE-FREE AMERICA**FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION FUND**and many, many others. Write: WORKING ASSETS, 701 Montgomery St., San Francisco, Ca., 94111. Visit: http://www.wald.com. This does not constitute an endorsement; merely an announcement fyi.

**the RED FEATHER DICTIONARY of Critical Sociology will be published in the Fall by Harrow and Heston. Bruce Arrigo is Co-Author with TR Young. Entries include traditional sociological terms; marxist concepts, postmodern, feminist and other special terms not available in standard dictionaries or glossaries.

**The editors of Rethinking MARXISM announce: WORKSHOP ON THE GLOBALIZATION OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS: PANELS WILL ALL BE HELD ON AUGUST 15, 1996, the day prior to the start of the ASA Meeting. Members of the Section on Marxist Sociology are invited to participate in a special panel series concerning the "Globalization of Social Problems" being organized at this year's annual meeting of SSSP. Complete information concerning hotel and other logistical arrangements are already available and will be sent to all those who register for the SSSP. Panel sub-themes include: Politics of Globalization; Globalization, Community and National Identity; Cuba and U.S. Foreign Policy; Cuba: Images, Realities, and Academic Exchange; Economy and Globalized Society; Global Changes and the Political Left; Poverty and the Collapse of social security; and others. Participation in these panels can be in the form of either 1) a dedicated presentation of a written paper, 2) a panel discussant, or 3) simply an informal participant. For more detailed information, contact: Richard A. Dello Buono, Sociology Department, Rosary College, 7900 West Division St., River Forest, IL 60305: <rosary@igc.apc.org>.

**NEW JOURNAL: THEORY AND PRAXIS. Sub: $10/year. Order from: Jackie Eller, 2427 Anchor St., M'Boro, Tn., 37130. Monthly news from around the world, stimulating essays, research notes, clearing house for actives.

**SSSP Session on Sexual Harassment and Social Problems theory. Friday, Aug., 16: 11:15-1:00pm. NY Meetings.

CONFERENCE on PROPERTY, COMMODITY, CULTURE: Manhattan, Kansas, March 6-8, 1997: Possible topics: *Personal property/public responsibility*visual rights *Tenure *Transnational capital, globalism, *Mode of production, social formation, and deterritorialization and forms of property *The revival of nationalism: cultural *Education as consumer good and economic property *Children: property or persons *Virtual property and copyright *Prostitution and sexwork *Class and turf *Marriage: history and future *Enclosure and commons *Slavery *Property and crime *Privatizing the Internet *New populism and Wise Use *Trademarking species: biotechnology *Fetishism: ritual, commodity, sexuality *Property and propriety *Privatizing public schools *Property and propriety *Privatizing public schools *Queer propriety&properties of gender *Black markets *White collar crime: property & penalty *Nation and immigration *Labor and global capital: GATT, NAFTA, *Ownership, subjectivity, identity *Property and performativity *Native American land *Collaboration, credit, and property *Copying, copyright, copyhold. Abstracts for papers and panels: Limit proposals to one page, single spaced, per paper; proposals for non-standard format sessions welcome. Due date: October 4, 1996. Address proposals and queries to Tim Dayton, Department of English, Denison Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506. Phone: (913) 532-6716. FAX: (913) 532-7004. Email: TADAYTON@KSU.KSU.EDU

**New MARXIST NETWORK ON-LINE: soc-politics.marxism. Moderator: Per I Mathisen <perim@interlink.no> Contact address: marxism-request@stud.unit.no. Submission address: marxism@stud.unit.no. Moderation Policy: The moderators reserve the right to reject any articles submitted to soc.politics.marxism that are insulting, using more than 1/4 quotation, off-topic or not at all related to marxism. Crossposts will not be tolerated unless it is an announcement of relevance or importance to the newsgroup.

**SAGE Publications has several new books on CULTURAL MARXISM and Critical Postmodern scholarship:

STUART HALL: Questions of Cultural Identity.
MIKE FEATHERSTONE: Undoing Culture.
MIKE FEATHERSTONE, SCOTT LASH, ROLAND ROBERTSON: Global Modernities.
ANGHARAD VALDIVIA: Feminism, Multiculturalism and the Media.

**the SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Our Award has gone to: MARTIN MURRAY, PATRICK McGUIRE, DONALD MacQUARIE, BERCH BERBEROGLU, PETER KNAPP and ALAN J. SPECTOR. There are dozens of other scholars whose work should long ago have been recognized. Send NOMINATIONS to: STEPHANIE SHANKS-MEILE at Sociology, Indiana University-N.W., Gary, Indiana, 46408.

**LAUREN LANGMAN announces that, in addition to the regular sessions and roundtables of the Marxist section, on the 19th of August, from 6:30-8:30, there will be an informal meeting to continue discussions. This is not a paper session, rather an attempt to share ideas and experiences in organizing, communicating, using media etc. Tentative participants include Douglas Kellner, Stanley Aronowitz, Steve Bronner, Frances Fox Piven and Valerie Scatamburlo. You do not need to be a member of ASA or even register. Just look in program for location of room, evening of Marxist section day.

**MARXISM IN A POSTMODERN AGE: Confronting the New World Order. Eds: Antonio Callari, Stephen Cullenberg and Carole Biewener. Published by Guilford Press. A Collection from the 1992 conference, RETHINKING MARXISM. A look at the creativity and variety in the marxist camp today.

**JOURNAL OF WORLD SYSTEMS RESEARCH. Volume 2 is available free on the internet. V. 2 contains articles by Daniel Whiteneck and by W. Warren Wagar. Chris Chase-Dunn urges the Wagar article on progressive scholars. Send articles for V.3 to Chase-Dunn at: Sociology, Johns Hopkins U., Balt., Md., 21218.

**RETHINKING MARXISM. The Editors of Rethinking Marxism announce the 3rd International Conference around the theme, 'POLITICS AND LANGUAGES OF CONTEMPORARY MARXISM at Umass, Amherst. During the four days of the Conference, Thurs., Dec. 5 to Sun., Dec 8, there will be concurrent sessions on issues which intersect with marxism; feminism, racism, queer theory, and post-colonial studies. Contact STEPHEN CULLENBERG, Econ, Ucal-Riverside, Ca. 92521 by AUGUST, 1996.

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