This talk by Carol Swain, a political scientist and former professor at Vanderbilt University, was given at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019. Swain argues that cultural Marxism — the application of Marxist ideas to culture, race and identity rather than to economics alone — is being used to manipulate Black Americans, encouraging them to see themselves as victims and to support policies that, in her view, do not serve their interests.
Swain draws on her own experience as a Black American who grew up in poverty in Virginia and went on to a distinguished academic career, arguing that the values of faith, family, education and hard work, rather than grievance and dependence on government, are the way forward. She criticises what she sees as a left-wing narrative that divides Americans by race and presents Black Americans as permanently oppressed, rather than as citizens with agency and opportunity.
For readers interested in socialism’s history and present, this talk matters because it connects the history of Marxism with its present form in American culture and politics. Swain’s argument — that Marxist ideas have moved from the factory floor into schools, media and public debate — is a central claim in the contemporary discussion of cultural Marxism, and this CPAC speech presents it in direct, personal terms.