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.