Du Bois’s Marxist Democracy, or: A Desperate Plea for a Holistic Democracy

• In Event: Du Bois and Democratic Theory: Race, Capitalism, and the State

Abstract

While democracy is held globally in high esteem, political scientists and theorists emphasize the limits of democracy, moderating the expectation of what democracy can provide, and focus on the subtle virtues of democracy. In democratic theory in particular we can discern three approaches that follow this trend. The first is a proceduralist conception of democracy that sees its virtue as opening the door to constant change and revision of democratic decisions. Democracy, according to this conception lies solely in the process and is entirely indifferent to the outcome. However, such conception problematically allows for the degradation of co-citizens as long as it follows a democratic procedure but lacks the tools to rectify potential structural biases in these procedures. A conception of democracy that seems to overcome these flaws focuses on politics as acting together, it requires people to see each other as co-citizens ready to make sacrifices for each other as an unavoidable element of democratic life. However, this democracy-as-acting-together may overestimate the need for sacrifices and naturalizes the harms generated by an economic system as a necessary feature of democracy. Finally, there are epistemic conceptions of democracy that see democratic procedures as generating, on average, better outcomes. However, epistemic democracy has difficulty conceptualizing what better outcomes are and excluding the possibility that the few might be better at reaching such outcomes. Despite their differences, all three approaches have in common that they dissociate democracy from the broader societal economic structure. In other words, they present democracy idiosyncratically as a feature of the political.

Du Bois, in contrast, had high expectations of democracy. In the World and Africa, he presents it as a reservoir and opportunity that can achieve all, even peace, but cannot exist if curtailed by color, race, and poverty. He presents democracy as a valuable state of affairs that fosters prosperity and well-being for all but at the same time has demanding preconditions for the different spheres of social life. In other words, he offers a demanding and holistic conception of democracy. As such, in Darkwater Du Bois argues for a democratic rule over the industry, later on, he would even claim that democracy requires communism. Democracy can only exist, according to him, when education is free and accessible to all which unlocks the unique and privileged insight that each individual has of the world and allows them to fully promote their capabilities and potential. By emphasizing the unique insights of each individual, Du Bois asserts that only the inclusion of all can offer the knowledge and capability to build a healthier and more prosperous world. With this conception Du Bois overcomes the flaws of the other models of democracy; he stipulates a duty of solidarity between citizens and external standards to rectify a biased procedural system. He does not naturalize painful sacrifices in a way that vindicates the sins of capitalism. Finally, he does not allow for the possibility of the few being epistemically superior, although, as discussed below, he comes closest to the flaws of epistemic democracy.

However, such a demanding conception raises the question of how to achieve it democratically if the preconditions for democracy are lacking. This objection animated Du Bois’s thinking from Darkwater onwards. In his later writings, he argues that the inability to believe in men, the unwillingness to have faith in humanity and embrace democracy in all spheres of society, lead the stopgap to be used for ever narrower ends and push democracy ever further. This fascism of despair, as he calls the pull towards tyranny based on the inability to believe in humanity, is thus both the cause and result of the inability to commit to democracy. And yet, Du Bois himself fell into the fascism of despair and the traps of an epistemic conception of democracy by advocating for epistocratic rule in the democratization process. And yet, I argue that Black Reconstruction hints at an alternative. If the path towards democracy is ever-extending the only other way might be through a leap of faith as when millions of slaves became full democratic citizens not only through laws but also through their deeds. This paper does not claim to present a comprehensive let alone a perfect conception of democracy, instead, it is, as the title mentions, a desperate plea to democratic theory not to limit itself to what is, not to scapegoat democracy into the sins of racism and capitalism, and not to constrain its political imaginary to what seems feasible.

Author

• Charles Gerard Battaglini, Columbia University