Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Cornel West on "Black Prophetic Fire"
Date: October 21, 2021
Host: Richard D. Wolff, Democracy at Work
Guest: Dr. Cornel West

Episode Overview

This episode of Economic Update features an extended interview between host Richard D. Wolff and renowned scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West. While Dr. Wolff first addresses growing socialist sentiment in Western nations and the economic situation in Puerto Rico, the focus quickly shifts to an in-depth discussion with Dr. West. Their dialogue centers on the legacy of Black prophetic leadership, the realities of elite education, public life and collective welfare, and enduring structural injustices in America. Both speakers interweave personal experience, political analysis, and historical perspective, maintaining a tone of mutual respect, urgency, and a call to action.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Global Rise in Socialist Sentiment (00:10 – 06:00)

• Dr. Wolff opens by reviewing recent electoral and polling data indicating a resurgence of socialist ideas among young people in Europe and the United States.
  • Examples: Germany’s SPD (Socialist Party) leading national elections, British youth supporting socialism (67%) and blaming capitalism for housing and climate crises.
• Wolff emphasizes the disconnect between these realities and the portrayal of socialism in American mainstream media.
  • Quote:
    “Believing either that it never has or it can't or it won't or it doesn't is a way to cover over the harsh reality that the majority of people in places like Germany, Britain and the United States, particularly the young people who are coming into their role as the runners of society, are more and more interested in socialism.” (05:23, Wolff)

2. Puerto Rico’s Economic Struggles & U.S. Policy (06:01 – 11:40)

• Wolff examines Puerto Rico’s stagnant minimum wage and high poverty rate (44%).
• He provides a critical overview of the Jones Act, which restricts shipping to Puerto Rico, leading to inflated costs and economic hardship.
  • Quote:
    “There's no free market in shipping to Puerto Rico, an island that depends on ships. There’s only a controlled market—controlled. By whom? By the United States Congress. To the benefit of whom? Of the shippers in the United States who get the chance to price above the world market and rip off the poorest part of the country.” (09:35, Wolff)
• Links Puerto Rico’s struggles to broader criticisms of capitalism and American policy.

Main Interview: Dr. Cornel West on Black Prophetic Fire

3. The Personal and Historical Relationship (11:56 – 13:35)

• Wolff and West reminisce about their 45-year friendship, shared activism, and influences within the Marxist tradition.
• Dr. West lauds Wolff’s consistent commitment to exposing exploitation and analyzing power relations in the workplace.
  • Quote:
    “You are the great Marxist economist at the end of the 20th and early part of the 21st century. And that’s a great legacy.” (13:00, West)

4. Elite Education: Critique of Harvard and the Commodification of Academia (13:37 – 18:05)

• West deconstructs Harvard’s two faces: one devoted to genuine intellectual questing and another as a networking hub for the elite.
  • He details the university’s growing commodification, bureaucratization, and prioritization of research over teaching.
• Discusses Harvard’s slow progress on inclusion, emphasizing its ties to the military-industrial complex and capitalist structures.
  • Quote:
    “Very much Harvard has been the beacon of claims about diversity, claims about inclusion, claims about embracing and yet so tied to the military industrial complex, so tied to big money…” (17:00, West)
• Wolff shares personal anecdotes about academic repression of radical critique.
  • Quote:
    “His eyes were saying to me, 'Don't go there and don't take me with you. I can't go there.' ...I learned on my own.” (18:25, Wolff)

5. Repression and Radical Inquiry in the Academy (20:22 – 22:54)

• Wolff recounts how his public political activism threatened his academic prospects, even among liberal professors.
• West underscores how anti-communist legacies (McCarthyism, HUAC) and elite academic gatekeeping suppress radical thought.
  • “You could feel the shadows of McCarthy.” (20:22, West)
• Wolff’s dissertation on British colonialism in Kenya is noted for its uniqueness and personal impact.
  • Quote:
    “What I saw, the reality of what colonialism was on the ground, was a lesson that no way could I ever become a supporter of a system that could do that to those people.” (21:24, Wolff)

6. Public Life, Collective Response, and America’s COVID-19 Failure (22:54 – 26:53)

• Wolff highlights staggering U.S. COVID-19 death rates compared to China, questioning failures in public health response.
• West responds by diagnosing America’s “degraded” public and civic life—a result of commodification and loss of collective ethos.
  • Quote:
    “When you have a public life that is so dejected, debased and degraded...when there's a public threat, you're unable to provide an effective public response.” (24:11, West)
  • America’s focus on individualistic freedoms, rather than meaningful liberty and public responsibility, undermined pandemic response.
• West references John Dewey on the perpetual need for organized, collective (“public”) answers to social crises.

7. America and Haiti: Structural Racism and the Ongoing Struggle (26:53 – 28:35)

• Wolff asks for West’s reaction to viral images of mounted border patrol agents pursuing Haitian migrants.
• West connects this to the enduring legacy of the Haitian Revolution, global anti-Blackness, and America’s history of white supremacy and capitalist degradation.
  • Quote:
    “Look at their dignity, look at their determination, look at their fight. ...I’m never surprised by white supremacist dogma, by capitalist degradation of human beings.” (27:51, West)
• West closes by urging resistance without despair: “I just don't allow any kind of despair to get in the way of fighting and resisting those kinds of attempts to degrade any slice of humanity no matter where they are.” (28:07, West)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Believing either that [socialism] never has or it can't or it won't or it doesn't is a way to cover over the harsh reality that the majority of people...are more and more interested in socialism.” (05:23, Wolff)
• “There's no free market in shipping to Puerto Rico...There’s only a controlled market—controlled. By whom? By the United States Congress.” (09:35, Wolff)
• “You are the great Marxist economist at the end of the 20th and early part of the 21st century. And that’s a great legacy.” (13:00, West)
• “Very much Harvard has been the beacon of claims about diversity, claims about inclusion, claims about embracing and yet so tied to the military industrial complex…” (17:00, West)
• “His eyes were saying to me, 'Don't go there and don't take me with you. I can't go there.' ...I learned on my own.” (18:25, Wolff)
• “When you have a public life that is so dejected, debased and degraded...when there's a public threat, you're unable to provide an effective public response.” (24:11, West)
• “I’m never surprised by white supremacist dogma, by capitalist degradation of human beings. ...I just don't allow any kind of despair to get in the way of fighting and resisting those kinds of attempts to degrade any slice of humanity no matter where they are.” (27:51, West)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:10–06:00: The resurgence of socialism—evidence and implications
• 06:01–11:40: Puerto Rico’s economics, the Jones Act, and U.S. colonial policy
• 11:56–13:35: Introductions—personal and intellectual history between Wolff and West
• 13:37–18:05: Harvard and the critique of commodified education
• 18:05–22:54: Silencing radical inquiry in academia; personal stories
• 22:54–26:53: COVID-19—America’s public response versus collective welfare
• 26:53–28:35: White supremacy, border violence, and the Haitian experience

Summary

This episode is a richly layered conversation blending personal narrative, economic critique, and historical consciousness. Richard D. Wolff and Cornel West analyze the failure of American institutions—academia, government, and the public sphere—to meet collective needs. They share firsthand encounters with systemic repression, highlight the persistence of structural racism, and call for embracing socialist visions and radical solidarity. Throughout, West’s message is undaunted: despair is not an option—the only path forward is persistent struggle for truth, dignity, and justice.