The Ph.D. Program in History at the CUNY Graduate Center Presents…

The Fourth Annual Judith S. Stein Lecture in Political Economy 

Robin D. G. Kelley on “Class War and the Police: Rethinking Black Labor Histories”

Wednesday, November 5th, 2025, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM 

Professor Kelley has provided the following abstract of his lecture:

“My talk argues that movements resisting state-sanctioned and extralegal racial violence have been, not a distraction or diversion from class politics, but the epicenter of anti-capitalist struggles.  Not to diminish the factory or workplace, but it is in the war on black life (which includes the workplace) and resistance to that war that visions of alternatives to capitalism and the criminal justice systems are often born.  While we understand police as engines of class power and capital, we’ve ignored the extent to which fights for justice, reducing state violence and criminalization, etc., have also been fights against the criminal policies of racial capitalism—housing, schools, healthcare and so forth. I will draw on examples from my forthcoming book.”

This event will take place in the Segal Theatre and will be livestreamed via Zoom. For In-Person RSVPs, please email history@gc.cuny.edu. For online attendance, please register here. 

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