PHYLON THE ATLANTA UNIVERSITY Review of RACE AND CULTURE MARCH 1974 VOL. XXXV, No, 1 By JOSEPH P. DeMARCO The Rationale and Foundation of DuBois’s Theory of Economic Cooperation Nn 1940 W. E. B. DuBots claimed that his three most important post World War I activities were his work on Pan-Africanism, his encour- agement of artistic activities among blacks and his speculation on economic cooperation. He went on to say that his effort toward economic rehabilitation through economic cooperation was the most fundamental and prophetic of the three lines of endeavor.’ His high regard for the theory of economic cooperation, however, has not been shared by many of those who have studied DuBois’s writings and was even rejected by those who had worked with him.? But the fact that his plan has generally lacked support does not demonstrate that the plan was unreasonable or poorly constructed, as is often argued. The purpose of this paper is to present DuBois’s theory as a careful, rational and realistic plan for the economic betterment of a minority group during a severe depression. And perhaps more important, this article makes explicit the method implicit in DuBois’s long search for a solution to the economic plight of Afro-Americans. His methodology is offered as logical and valuable for any group, especially minorities, attempting to solve social problems, DuBois’s plan for economic cooperation was meant to be flexible enough to respond to varying situations. He never gave a complete and detailed description of his theory; rather, he gave a complete rationale, an overall description, and a fairly complete program for the initial *W,E, B.DuBols, Dus of Dawn: An Essay Toward An Autobiography of a Race Concept jew Yor! . s francis Le Broderick in W. E, B. DuBois: Negro Leader in a Time of Crisis, (Stanford, 1959) B, 7 cofitends thatthe plan, ior cconoinie cooperation was an inevitable tllure because H wilt on a racial chauvinism which the race would not, sustain.” ‘Rudwick, in'W. E..B. Dubois: Bropagandist of the Negro. Protest (New, York, 1000). 'D, 196, ‘sees Bubvis's theory of cooperation es. markt of hus rustration at being ina no-siak's lard and roping desperately, for an exit.” Julius Lester's introduction gives cooperation, only. the retest mention in The Seventh Son: The Thought and Writings of W. EB. Dubois (New York. igi), 1. 87-8. DuBois recognized that. his ‘concept was not, accepted: in his letter of Fesighation ‘as editor of, The Crisis he laments that “My program for economic readjustment as been totally ignored.” See The Crisis, VI (August: 56 PHYLON steps in the development of cooperation. A general outline of his theory is found in Dusk of Dawn, but one must include material from The Crisis magazine in order to get a thorough view of DuBois’s concept. The economic cooperative DuBois proposed followed some of the main tenets of the proven course of European cooperation, with one essential difference, namely the added dimension of race. His plan calls for a segregated racial economic cooperative, insofar as this was feasible.* The segregation blacks faced made them predominantly a consumer group without a capitalist class; the cooperative would begin by organizing neighborhood groups as consumers. These groups would buy wholesale food and manufactured goods from white-owned plants already estab- lished to provide lower prices to consumer groups. But discrimination existed in the white establishments, and thus blacks could not have become an effective part of a general consumer cooperative movement. Instead, they would have to form their own large-scale wholesale and manufacturing organizations. The first step in setting up a large-scale, independent movement would be the establishment of local stores stocking food, clothing and household goods, In order to open a store, the required capital must be raised by selling stocks at low cost to those already profiting from wholesale buying. Each shareholding member would have one vote, would receive a fixed interest on his shares, and would receive returns from profits based not on his shares but on the amount of his purchases.‘ DuBois believed that local cooperative stores could be established in cities with black populations of 10,000 or more.’ As the number of local consumer societies increased, and thus their total sales, the point would come when they could unite to form a wholesale society and eliminate some dependence on white economic power. As the consumer cooperative grew into a series of wholesale societies, the demand for knowledgeable leadership would arise. The leadership must be capable, honest and inspired if the cooperative is to succeed. But, furthermore, the cooperative must always remain consumer oriented; thus the leadership must be under the democratic control of the membership, which could be accomplished only if the leadership were willing to teach the principles and methods of cooperation to the masses. This educational process must be continued, DuBois maintained, until mass ownership would be able to use their votes knowing “exactly the principles and persons for which they are voting.”* Once local consumer cooperatives had joined together into wholesale societies and the essential leadership has been established, then the cooperative could expand from the consumption sector to the production 3 DuBois, Dusk of Dawn, p. 215. «Part of this outline comes from James Peter Warbasse’s article “The Theory of Cooperation,” ‘The Crisis, XV (Mareh, 1916), 221. DuBois incorporated much of what Warbasse sald into his gwn program, {BuBois, The Crisis, XIV (September, 1917), 215. * DuBois, Dusk of Dawn, p. 213.DuBOIS’S THEORY OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION 7 sector. Consequently, blacks could begin to use their already partially segregated economy in a planned, rational way by reorganizing and employing their productive capabilities. DuBois claimed that blacks already supplied part of their food, clothing, home building, repairs, books, and personal services such as hotels and restaurants.’ Black workers could fulfill almost all building, growing and repairing needs; what was required in the cooperative was “A simple transfer of Negro workers, with only such additional skills as can easily be learned in a few months. ...”8 As the consumer and producer cooperative grew, more and more workers would be incorporated into its production and distri- bution. Careful planning would be required to develop the organization necessary to overcome detrimental geographical distribution and to pro- vide the centralization and the relocation necessary for large-scale manu- facturing. But once achieved, the services of the racial cooperative could continue to expand. Schools could be improved by providing the best possible teaching and equipment.® DuBois called for a centrally planned hospital system and a program of socialized medicine. Blacks, he insisted, must do something about crime and improve legal defense provisions. In short, DuBois advocated a program of socialization of all professional services, including the establishment of banks along the lines which would allow them to give needed credit and social services.” DuBois’s racial cooperative was to be organized according to the needs and desires of the consumer and not with regard to the profits of the producer. The program would provide modest yet sufficient salaries and eliminate the millionaire; mass and class, he hoped, would unite in common economic effort. Exploitation of labor, risk, and profit would have to be avoided by gearing production to the already expressed demands of the consumer, and by selling at the price of actual cost. Unemployment among blacks would have to be eliminated by the success of the cooperative. The group economy DuBois envisioned was to be accomplished by a series of steps each of increasing centralization and utilization of existing productive capacity. His cooperative was to be built without govern- ment aid and mainly without dependence on the general economy. DuBois clearly intended to organize a racial cooperative solely within the black community, but one based on the principles that have spawned successful cooperative movements from Russia to England.1? DuBois presented racial economic cooperation as the solution to the problems of the black community not simply because cooperation had proved to be a successful movement in Europe, but also because he saw economic cooperation as the only effective and practical solution to the “Ibid., p. 198. 1" Toid,’p. 210. 2 ibid. 20. % Ibid» p, 214: 1 For a description of cooperation in Europe see Harry W. Laidler, History of Socialism (New York, 1968), chap. 41. id ae8 PHYLON problems facing blacks: namely, cultural division, segregation, and economic deprivation. Within the black community DuBois defined a “Talented Tenth” as those with greater educational and cultural advantages than the average. Usually their incomes were also somewhat greater, but their main distinction was cultural. In DuBois’s early writings the “Talented Tenth” was slated to become the vanguard of the race; however, in Dusk of Dawn they were seen as resentful of the segregated environ- ment which forced them into contact with the average man, from whom they increasingly tried to discriminate themselves.!* The problem of cultural division made concerted action difficult; it also presented the specter of the most capable part of the race finding adequate conditions, while leaving the majority chronically deprived. While segregation exacerbates cultural differentiation, it is mainly a problem because it contributes to poverty. And DuBois saw poverty as the most serious problem.* During the great depression blacks were especially hard hit. But even with the end of the depression DuBois projected “that not more than two per cent of the Negro families in the United States would have an income of $2,500 a year and over; while fifty-eight per cent would have incomes between $500 and $2,500.”* Low income contributed to a variety of problems: poor housing, high death rates, and crime. Obviously, the poor education attendant to poverty accounted for much of the ignorance and low cultural standing that caused cultural division. Consequently, the three problems are closely related, and are intensi- fied by the minority status of the black community; any solution to one problem must not only deal adequately with the other two as well, but, also, it must be a minority group solution. Therefore, DuBois rejected, in 1940, a communistic struggle as a solution designed for a majority and not for a minority.° He also rejected the proposal that blacks develop an economic class structure modeled on that of whites. This plan would not solve the problem of cultural differentiation but would add to it and almost guarantee that the majority would continue in poverty. DuBois also rejected his own earlier solution: the use of moral suasion, insistent demands, and physical force in a campaign of ceaseless agitation for equality. He did not reject these methods as part of a solution — he continued to see such tactics as essential to a solution. But he did not view them as a complete solution. DuBois saw racial prejudice as a largely unconscious and irrational habit which would require a long and costly struggle to overcome.!® But neither the time nor money could be afforded by an impatient and poor group. Therefore, a workable DuBois, Dusk of Dat 179. DuBois saw early indic entfulness among the Placed greater Pralented "Fenth" The ne PRiadelphta, Neovo, sa Ne or Soor)s ps ait, but he emphasis on thely endership role in his ea x BuBols, Dusk of Daten, p. abDuBOIS’S THEORY OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION 9 solution must immediately address itself to economic improvement, thus making a long campaign of agitation possible. DuBois’s criteria led him to reject programs ranging from the “Back to Africa” movement to the proposal that blacks seek a solution in organized labor, and in turn to investigate various tendencies in the black community in order to uncover inchoate practical responses. DuBois wanted to find a solution that met the problem, but also one that had continuity with the temperament, conditions, and background of Afro-Americans. Through his extensive social studies he found various factors which influenced his choice of a racial economic cooperative as such a solution, including the fact of a long tradition of cooperation among blacks. The Atlanta University Publications presented a thorough account of the history of cooperation among Afro-Americans from slavery times until the twentieth century.’ Much of what DuBois called cooperation in the Atlanta studies was not similar to the economic cooperative he later proposed. But DuBois felt that various forms of social cooperation duplicated the spirit necessary for economic cooperation to be a success. Cooperation, DuBois contended, was found as a primary aspect of African tribal life, which was organized on a communistic basis so that “no individual can be poorer than the tribe.”4* American slavery not only held over traits from Africa, but kept blacks from the sort of economic competition DuBois viewed as antithetical to cooperation.!* The slavery experience also created what DuBois called “a kind of quasi cooperation,” consisting in the “buying of freedom by slaves or their relatives.”*? And slavery witnessed charity in the form of adoption and caring for the sick. But the most significant aspect of slavery in relation to cooperation was the leadership capacity of the religious man and the “clan life” of the plantation. DuBois claimed that both were adapted from African origins: “The African clan life of blood relatives became the clan life of the plantation; the religious leader became the head of the religious activity of the slaves, and whatever other group action was left....”#1 This religious leadership during slavery was important because it pre- sented the origin of the leadership which became the basis for the church after emancipation. The church was, in DuBois’s opinion, the foundation of cooperative efforts among blacks. DuBois also claimed that the church was the center of violent insur- rections during slavery and aided in the underground railroad. Both of these reactions to slavery were considered forms of cooperation, and the underground railroad led to “various cooperative efforts toward eco- nomic emancipation and land-buying. Gradually these efforts led to e4., Some Efforts of American Negroes cir Own Social Betterment DuBois, wees 18) ole Economie Cooperation’ hrnong Negro Ashericane’ (Atianias 1907) » sflorts for Social Betterment. Among, Negro Americans (Atlanta, 1909), p. 10. 2 DuBois: ed., The Negro Artisan (Atlanta, 1902), DuBeIs, Beanomic Cooperation Among Negro Anericans, p, DuBois; Some Biforte of American Neprocs for Their Own Social Betterment, p. 43.10 PHYLON cooperative business, building and loan associations and trade unions.”** The businesses DuBois mentioned were only cooperative in the sense that various partners and stockholders joined together in forming the companies. Forms of cooperation more closely approximating DuBois’s later plans were the burial, beneficial and insurance societies. Burial societies sprang from churches and in turn gave rise to beneficial and insurance societies. These societies were not profit-making and gave members security through united effort. Although these forms of cooperation indicated an important tendency, DuBois found others even more important. He found a significant form of cooperation in the industrial settlement, which was a farm community built through the division of land based on various renting and owner- ship plans with a common school and church and eventually its own industry and specialized farming. DuBois believed that settlements of this sort could be a plan for the future and gave details of the settlement at Kowaliga, Alabama. The clearest economic forebear of his plan was the group economy which he defined as “a cooperative arrangement of industries and services within the Negro group [such] that the group tends to become a closed economic circle largely independent of the surrounding white world.” DuBois found in 1912 that blacks already had a somewhat segregated group economy in which they supplied them- selves “with religious ministration, medical care, legal advice and edu- cation of children; and to a growing degree with food, houses, books and newspapers. ... Representing at least 300,000 persons, the group economy approaches a complete system.”** Consequently, DuBois believed that the economic basis for a partly segregated cooperative was already present in the black community and that the cooperative spirit had a rich tradition among Afro-Americans. A group economy was a segregated economy, yet DuBois found that it had benefits insofar as it was “independent of prejudice and competi- tion,”*7 In 1913, in a condemnation of segregation, he pointed out that thousands of businesses such as drug stores, grocery stores, insurance societies and daily newspapers had been established precisely because there was discrimination. He continued, “In a sense The Crisis is capital- ized race prejudice.”?® He contended that segregation’s disadvantages, when necessary, must be turned to advantage, even though its advan- tages could not offset its evils. Again in the Atlanta studies he main- tained that “[cooperative efforts] are peculiar instances of the ‘advantage of the disadvantage’ — of the way in which a hostile environ- ment has forced the Negro to do for himself.”*° 2 DuBois, Economic Cooperation Amon, Americans, aldo sts Barly Nepro Writings 1feodea7 Boston, TR) Sa. D. Porter, contains selected a Gonstifutions of beneficial and ingurance societies, The Negro Artisay = Dubols, ed., Phe Negro AmeRecan Artisan (Atlanta, 1912), p. 40. zie, 12, (February, 1913), 184. & DuBois; eds Fhe’ Negro tn Busieas (Allanta, 1600), p. 15.DuBOIS'’S THEORY OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION 11 DuBois’s stress on the advantages of segregation was a pragmatic attempt to find the strength in segregation which could overcome segre- gation. DuBois used a dialectical turn: segregation could not be ignored or wished away, and it could only be overcome if it was used to advantage in cooperation. Segregation had made cooperation possible because, as we have seen, it had forced Afro-Americans into the uni- versal status of consumer; and it had provided the partially segregated economy on which the cooperative could be built. But it must be added that DuBois claimed his cooperative was not one of total segregation, for this would be impossible.** Rather, his proposal covered what he saw as a growing and significant part of the economic activities of blacks. And DuBois intended to use the technique of segregation to overcome segregation by providing the economic strength necessary for agitation and final admission into the total economy with equal status. So far we have seen DuBois’s examination of the tendencies toward cooperation and the basis in segregation for a cooperative economy in the black community. Besides these points, he attempted to find the unity necessary to enact cooperation. Although he found cultural classes, he believed that cultural diversity was overshadowed by the classless economic nature of the black community. As a result he argued that a program which appealed to common economic interests could evoke the unity needed for concerted action. A cooperative would be difficult for whites to develop because of their economic classes, but he concluded that if “we American Negroes are keen and intelligent we can evolve a new and efficient industrial cooperation quicker than any other group of people, for the simple reason that our inequalities of wealth are small. ...”8! DuBois recognized that economic classes among blacks were developing,** but under careful analysis he found that even groups often classified as capitalist (farm owners, trade and businessmen, and pro- fessionals) were not, strictly speaking, capitalist because their income was mainly derived from labor and not from capital.** DuBois located the real class opposition not among blacks, but between blacks and whites. But economic conditions were not the only force which could be harnessed to bring about unity, for DuBois also intended to structure a cooperative which would appeal to a sense of racial pride and solidarity. He believed that racial distinctions were not primarily physical, but rather psychical traits defined by “a common history, common laws and religion, similar habits of thought and a conscious striving together for certain ideals of life.”** In Dusk of Dawn the common racial bound needed to support the cooperative was the social heritage of slavery.** DuBois, Dusk of Down, p SPubols, The S107 “An fust, 1017), 166. SB tt 2 Races (Washington, D. C., 1891), p. 8. ™ DuBols, Dusk of Dawn, 9.12 PHYLON DuBois concluded that even though the establishment of a united economic effort would be difficult, there were chances for success: ++.In the African communal group, ties of family and blood, of mother and child, of group relationship, made the group leadership strong, even if not always toward the highest culture. In the case of the more artificial group among American Negroes, there are sources of strength in common memories of suffering in the past; in present threats of degradation and extinction; in common ambitions and the determination to prove ability and desert. Here in subtle but real ways the communalism of the African clan can be transferred to the Negro American group, implemented by higher ideals of human accomplishment through the education and culture which have arisen, . 8° Economic cooperation was selected by DuBois as a solution because it could solve the internal problems of Afro-Americans, but, further- more, he believed that it conformed to the general requirements of overall economic and social conditions. From his earliest writings, he emphasized that Afro-Americans lived in a double environment; on one side was the white world and on the other, the inner group.*" Any solution which did not contend with both sides would be only a partial solution. DuBois’s appraisal of economic and social conditions in the late 1930’s led to various conclusions significant to his plan for cooperation. First, he insisted that the American class structure, in which income and monopoly dominated state and industry, was breaking down. The great depression witnessed the collapse of capitalism.** He believed that this collapse was basically a result of the organization of industry around the producer; future reorganization, DuBois envisioned, would com- pensate for this weakness by organization around consumer needs.*® It follows that the future of industrialism lay in the support of a con- sumers’ movement such as DuBois proposed, and he intended blacks to be in the forefront of the new economic structure. Second, through an examination of the power of the boycott as an economic weapon, DuBois began to see the importance of the consumer in the economic cycle.*° Boycotts got results and were relatively easy to put into action, and, moreover, were an expression of consumer power. Partly through his examination of the effectiveness of boycotts, he con- cluded that the economic cycle began not with production, as most Americans assumed, but with consumption, “with the person who wants Food and Shelter, with the person who is buying Things and Services.”** Consequently, a racial consumers’ cooperative was viewed as sound economically because it based production on consumer needs and not on e Bubols The Souls of Black, Fouls (New York, 1961), Pi 31; uThe Study of the Negro, Problems,” speech on November 19, 1007, American Academy litical and Social Science, in J, Lester, a ‘the Crisis, XOPKVT (March, 1990), 102, “Ibid. XL (November, 1931),DuBOIS’S THEORY OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION 13 the profit motivation of the producer. So whether or not the larger economy changed to a consumer orientation, the racial cooperative would be following good economic practice. Furthermore, DuBois agreed with the Marxian contention that eco- nomic conditions were the determinant of social institutions. This general principle indicated that the primary solution to the problem ought to be economic, and the major considerations about the surround- ing environment ought to be guided by economic analysis. Hence, DuBois considered his theory of cooperation to be based upon realistic and practical rather than utopian considerations. The third important general consideration was to develop an economic plan that could coexist, if necessary, with an alien general economy. That is, DuBois required a program not only workable for a minority group, but one that would be largely independent of the oppressing economy. DuBois knew that cooperation had proved itself a successful movement of numerical minorities. For example, in 1916 cooperative stores in England thrived with a membership of 3,150,000. The sort of success England’s cooperative movement had for part of its citizens, DuBois contended, could be paralleled by Afro-Americans. Finally, DuBois realized that any plan must discount the support of the government he viewed as sharing society’s prejudice. Cooperation as he saw it was nonpolitical, that is, not requiring government aid.“4 Although he proposed a nonpolitical cooperative, he was not proclaiming disinterest in political affairs. A nonpolitical racial cooperative was ultimately seen as a power base for national political racial and interracial reform. Cooperation, then, was the plan DuBois conceived as best meeting the internal and external demands of the situation blacks faced. That the plan was not accepted does not demonstrate that it could not have succeeded. But perhaps the most damaging argument against the plan’s possibility for success is that DuBois did not foresee the adoption of new economic policies by the government which have protected this country from severe depression for some thirty years. However, even this does not prove that his plan would have failed. Yet he was realistic enough to know that his proposal would require a degree of discipline and sacrifice which might prove to be too great.*® The complete development of the idea of an economic cooperative as the solution to the problems faced by blacks took DuBois some forty-two years of social investigation and theoretical study. Implicit in his approach to cooperation was a sound method for developing solutions to social problems, especially to the problems of minority groups. The first step in his method was to survey and clearly define the problem in order ‘s Bubols ois Phe ely Bantary, 1918), 118. ‘BuBous Busk of baton, 'pp. 200-10,4 PHYLON to establish the initial and essentially negative standards for weighing possible solutions. This step involves the development of an exacting statement of the various aspects and ramifications of a problem in terms which will form the first criteria for an acceptable solution. Thus in trying to understand the problems of blacks, DuBois found that his analysis of the problem as one of cultural division, segregation and economic deprivation provided a threefold criteria which he could use to judge the merits of the continuum of solutions presented in his day. No solution was acceptable unless it dealt with all three aspects of the problem. Also, he found that the threefold problem must be viewed from both within and outside the group, thereby adding a further dimension to his criteria. Consequently, a clear statement of the problem provided the means of rejecting incomplete or flaccid solutions. This first step places the method in a strongly empirical and pragmatic framework which is antithetical to solutions proposed solely on the basis of ideological commitment and which is resistent to pressures on an individual of class, status or prestige. Thus DuBois was unwilling to accept the Marxian solution of proletarian revolution simply on the basis of his own belief in certain Marxian principles, because such a solution would not deal with all the aspects of the problem as he saw it. Nor was he willing to accept the solution of black capitalism on the ground that it would have benefited his own social class and status. The adoption of this first step might lead contemporary social critics to place stricter demands on ideologically inspired solutions for a more realistic understanding of the problem to be solved. While the first step in the method provides the criteria by which proposed solutions should be rejected, it also begins to suggest the possible general outlines for a realistic solution. However, more is required for the formulation of a workable plan than simply a definition of the problem. The second step in DuBois’s method provided him with positive criteria for evaluating possible solutions. This step required that the history and cultural heritage of a group be examined so that the accepted solution would be consistent with the historical tendencies and the current strengths and weaknesses exhibited by that group. A pro- posed solution might be theoretically acceptable in terms of the negative criteria, that is, the solution might in fact be designed to solve the problem which analysis has revealed, but it might be the sort of pro- gram that would simply be foreign to the traditional values or behavior patterns of the group. Thus there needs to be some indication that the group will respond favorably to the plan and that the group possesses the required characteristics to make the plan work. DuBois’s plan for solving the problem facing blacks required a spirit of cooperation and the presence of an economic base in the black community. He found a cooperative spirit permeating Afro-American history, and he found that blacks already had a partly established group economy. Therefore heDuBOIS’S THEORY OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION 15 proposed racial economic cooperation as a method which would take advantage of the strengths of the black community and tend to overcome its weaknesses, He found strength in the concept of race identity and in the group’s classless economic structure, and he believed that the weak- ness of cultural division and of segregation could be overcome through the appeal to racial loyalty and through the pragmatic use of segregation. The third point in the method is extremely important and introduces a future-oriented perspective. DuBois attempted to demonstrate that his plan was in harmony with social developments that would affect the problematic situation in the future. His point is that any plan worthy of adoption must be in harmony with relevant predicted social develop- ments. In regard to his plan for economic cooperation DuBois believed that the essential development would be a change in the economic struc- ture away from a dying capitalism of the depression era towards a socialized cooperative economy. Proposing a black cooperative was in line with this expected development since blacks could not only be a part of it but could be the leaders in this development. Black capitalism, on the other hand, would have to be rejected as antithetical to the expected future. Finally, DuBois’s method was based on the assumption that the founda- tion of most social problems is economic. He came to this view for vari- ous reasons, one of the most important being his belief that racial prejudice was rooted in slavery as an economic system.** But in terms of his method for dealing with social problems, this view operates as the explicit premise that in defining the problem and organizing a solution, economic considerations must be primary. For example, DuBois viewed the classless economic structure of the black community as a more powerful social factor than the cultural division within the community. And partly as a result of this view, he proposed an economic solution which would be strongly supported by the substructure of a group economy and which would take advantage of expected economic developments. Proposed solutions to social problems are obviously never foolproof and the means to test them are rarely if ever available. However, DuBois’s method was meant to eliminate those suggestions which were utopian, which were alien to the group, those based solely on ideology of social commitment, those which were not future-oriented, and those which failed to give economic factors their due weight. In this way he attempted to insure the soundness of his proposal for racial economic cooperation. “Dusk of Dawn 1s a chronicle of the considerations which led him to the adoption of this ‘Marxian perspective. >