A unique comparative look at two of the most influential historical figures of the nineteenth century: Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass.
The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution is a timely and urgent work of comparative political analysis. Juxtaposing the political thought and activism of Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass, who approached politics from very different theoretical and political perspectives, Nimtz and Edwards make insightful observations and conclusions about race and class in America. The book reveals how two still competing political perspectives, liberalism and Marxism, responded to the biggest breakthrough in the quest for democracy since the French Revolution: the abolition of chattel slavery in the United States. In doing so, Nimtz and Edwards connect debates about the most contentious issues of the nineteenth century to today’s struggles for democracy, freedom, and emancipation.
August H. Nimtz is professor of political science and African American and African studies and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota. 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.
Publication date: September 2, 2025
“Nimtz and Edwards offer a meticulous, strikingly original, deeply researched, and profoundly insightful comparison of the real-time responses of Frederick Douglass and Karl Marx to the U.S. Civil War. They show that Douglass operated as part of a liberal abolitionist movement in which ending the institution of slavery and achieving full political rights for former slaves was an end in its own right. Yet, thousands of miles away, Marx (along with Engels) saw correctly that ending slavery could only be but one step in an inevitably longer journey. For Marx recognized that former slaves would become workers subject to capitalist exploitation. He realized that true freedom and equality required abolishing private property in general. The moral of this story applies today as much as it did then: formal democratic rights, racial inclusion, and electoral participation must not be mistaken as the end goal for working people.” – James Mahoney, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Northwestern University
“Destined to become the definitive account of Marx’s neglected writings on race, class, and revolution in the U.S. Civil War, which he viewed as the biggest social revolution he lived through. Also contains a provocative analysis of Douglass.” – Kevin B. Anderson, author of Marx at the Margins
“This fascinating book brings together two of the most formidable minds of the nineteenth century and creates a dialogue full of unexpected insights. This book will enrich our understanding of Frederick Douglass, Karl Marx, and the world they inhabited.” – Don H. Doyle, author of The Cause of All Nations and The Age of Reconstruction: How Lincoln’s New Birth of Freedom Changed the World
“We live amid a longstanding struggle to achieve a fully democratic society, according to August Nimtz and Kyle Edwards, proceeding in fits and starts since the mid-19th century in both Europe and the U.S. In their new book, Nimtz and Edwards seek to illuminate the historical roots of this struggle, via a surprisingly unusual juxtaposition. The authors take a “parallel lives” approach to the thinking and action of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, on one side, and of Frederick Douglass on the other—exemplaries, respectively, of European revolutionary socialism and of American revolutionary liberalism. The book won’t settle the contest between the two camps, but thoughtful partisans of each will find it challenging and informative. Of particular interest are the discussions of Marx’s and Engels’s extensive commentary on the US Civil War and Douglass’s assessments of the revolutionary events in Europe in 1848 and 1871. All in all, with this book Nimtz and Edwards make a well researched and forcefully argued contribution in two large and growing fields of scholarship.” – Peter Myers, author of Frederick Douglass: Race and the Rebirth of American Liberalism
“Nimtz and Edwards force us to revisit, with fresh eyes, an absolutely critical period in not only American history but in modern world history […] The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution should have a broad and dedicated readership. Socialist intellectuals and activists will quickly discern the currency of this subject matter.” – Jason Dawsey, Against the Current
