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.
