Elena ThéardProfessor ZuckerHIS 1003 – April 23, 2014In this research paper, we will attempt to determine which view of history is correct – that formulated by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in “The Manifesto of the Communist Party. Party” or that developed by WEB Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk. According to Marx and Engels, “the history of every society up to now is the history of class struggles.” Both thinkers see history as a conflict between “the oppressor and the oppressed, constantly in opposition to each other.” Thus, they see history through the prism of the exploitation of one class by another. Marx and Engels emphasize the materialist view of history – that economic forces played a major role in its formation. While for Marx and Engels, questions of race and ethnicity were secondary to questions of class, another thinker, Du Bois, asserted that "[t]he problem of the twentieth century is that of the color line , the relationship between the darker races and the lighter races in Asia and Africa, in America and in the islands of the sea." According to him, the force underlying all historical development is the racial struggle and the oppression of blacks by whites. It attempts to explain history using the issue of race while ignoring any class or economic struggle within society – for Du Bois, “[s]tratification and order are secondary. » To determine which view of history is correct, we will analyze two historical events – the enslavement of Africans by European settlers and the American Civil War. Slavery and racism. First, we would like to analyze whether race or class played a greater role in the creation and development of slavery. After analyzing "The Communist Manifesto", we can conclude the ...... middle of paper ...... lace. Thus, history is better understood through the struggle of different classes than in terms of race. Racism was used to justify slavery and racism and to divide the population. pitting one part of the working class against another, thereby weakening class consciousness. Economic forces drive society, they are unexplained. History can be explained by competition between economic classes. Thus, we have come to the conclusion that although class struggle and racism are linked, the former is more significant because it is indeed the origin of many important historical events. Social Change in History Overall, we lean toward a Marxist view of history. Workers of all ethnic backgrounds faced the same struggles, regardless of the color of their skin. At least in American history, racial struggle and class struggle go hand in hand. The racial is weaker than the economic.Bibliography