The Red Earth of Revolt: Marxism and Decolonial Liberation in Frantz Fanon’s Thought

Personal Information :

Name:- Parthiv Solanki

Batch:- M.A. Sem 3 (2024-2026)

Enrollment Number:- 5108240032

E-mail:- parthivsolanki731@gmail.com

Assignment Details:-

Topic: The Red Earth of Revolt: Marxism and Decolonial Liberation in Frantz Fanon’s Thought

Paper:- Paper 203: The Postcolonial Studies

Submitted to: Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar

Date of Submission: 7 November 2025

1. Abstract

Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1961) stands as one of the most powerful anti-colonial manifestos of the twentieth century, merging Marxist theory with the lived realities of colonial oppression. Fanon reinterprets classical Marxism through the lens of race, violence, and decolonization, arguing that colonialism is not merely an economic system but a deeply psychological and cultural structure of domination. His analysis transforms Marx’s concept of class struggle into a revolutionary framework suited for the colonized world, where the oppressed masses, not the industrial proletariat, become the agents of historical change. Fanon’s notion of revolutionary violence functions as a cleansing act that restores the humanity of the colonized, while his critique of the national bourgeoisie exposes the failure of post-independence leadership. The text thus extends Marxist dialectics into the realm of psychological liberation and cultural rebirth, offering a vision of revolution that is both material and existential. This paper explores Fanon’s Marxist vision of class struggle, its adaptation to colonial conditions, and its enduring relevance to global movements of resistance and liberation.

2. Keywords

Fanon; Marxism; Colonialism; Class Struggle; Decolonization; Violence; Nationalism; Bourgeoisie; Alienation; Liberation.

3. Introduction

Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1961) is one of the most influential revolutionary texts of the twentieth century, blending the philosophical depth of Marxism with the urgency of anti-colonial struggle. Written in the context of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), the book reflects Fanon’s dual identity as both a psychiatrist and a revolutionary activist. His analysis of colonialism extends far beyond economic exploitation, unveiling its psychological, cultural, and existential dimensions. Fanon views colonial domination as a total system that dehumanizes the colonized while corrupting the moral consciousness of the colonizer.

In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon interprets the colonial situation as an intensified form of class struggle. However, unlike classical Marxism, which centers on industrial proletariat revolution, Fanon locates revolutionary potential in the marginalized classes of colonized societies the peasants, the poor, and the lumpenproletariat. To him, the colonial world is a “Manichaean” structure, divided into two irreconcilable zones the colonizer and the colonized representing not just economic disparity but a total segregation of humanity.

Fanon’s revolutionary vision is rooted in both material and psychological liberation. He argues that decolonization is necessarily violent because it dismantles the oppressive structures and psychic conditioning created by centuries of imperial rule. Through this synthesis of Marxist dialectics and existential humanism, Fanon envisions revolution not merely as political independence but as a process of reclaiming human dignity and agency. The significance of Fanon’s thought extends beyond the context of Algeria. His work became a cornerstone for liberation movements across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and deeply influenced postcolonial theory, Black liberation struggles, and Marxist humanism. Thus, Fanon transforms the Marxist idea of class struggle into a global discourse of resistance and renewal one that situates the colonized masses at the center of historical change.

4. Theoretical Framework: Marxism and Anti-Colonial Thought

Marxism provides the philosophical foundation for Fanon’s critique of colonialism, but he adapts it creatively to the realities of the colonized world. Karl Marx viewed history as a series of class struggles between oppressor and oppressed, culminating in the overthrow of capitalist systems by the proletariat. Fanon agrees with Marx that revolution arises from material exploitation and class antagonism, yet he modifies the theory by situating it within the racialized structures of colonialism. For Fanon, the colonial system replaces the economic class divide with a racial one: “The world is divided into compartments,” he writes, “the colonist and the colonized, and there is no conciliation possible.”

The colonizer represents both the bourgeois master and the capitalist exploiter, while the colonized are reduced to a dehumanized proletariat whose existence is defined by servitude. This is a world where economic exploitation is reinforced by psychological oppression, and racial ideology becomes a tool for maintaining economic hierarchy.

However, Fanon critiques classical Marxism for its Eurocentric assumptions. In colonies, the industrial proletariat is often too small or co-opted by colonial interests to act as a revolutionary class. Instead, Fanon identifies the lumpenproletariat peasants, laborers, the unemployed, and the marginalized as the true revolutionary force. Unlike the European working class, these groups have “nothing to lose” and are driven by the sheer will to reclaim land and dignity.

Fanon also extends Marxism beyond the economic realm by emphasizing the psychological dimensions of class struggle. Colonization, in his view, creates an internalized inferiority complex among the oppressed. Therefore, the revolution must be both material and mental a “cleansing” that restores self-respect and cultural identity. By integrating anti-colonial theory with Marxist materialism, Fanon constructs a new framework of revolutionary humanism. His Marxism is not dogmatic but dynamic a living theory of liberation that addresses the specific conditions of the Global South. Decolonization, then, becomes a historical dialectic: the oppressed masses rise against colonial domination to create a new, egalitarian humanity.

5. Frantz Fanon: Life, Context, and Intellectual Background

Frantz Omar Fanon (1925–1961) was born in Martinique, a French colony in the Caribbean. Growing up under French colonial rule, he experienced firsthand the contradictions of a system that preached equality while practicing racial discrimination. These early experiences of cultural alienation deeply shaped his later intellectual and political outlook.

Fanon served in the Free French Army during World War II, fighting against fascism in Europe only to discover that racism persisted within the very ranks of the “liberators.” After the war, he studied medicine and psychiatry in Lyon, France, where he encountered the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Aimé Césaire, who became his mentor and a crucial influence on his political awakening. Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to the Native Land introduced Fanon to the idea of négritude the celebration of Black identity though Fanon would later move beyond it, arguing for a more revolutionary transformation of identity.

As a psychiatrist, Fanon took up a post at Blida-Joinville Hospital in French-occupied Algeria. His clinical work exposed him to the devastating psychological effects of colonialism depression, inferiority, and violent behavior among both colonized patients and French soldiers. This dual insight led to his conclusion that colonialism was not merely a political system but a form of psychological domination.

Fanon’s first major work, Black Skin, White Masks (1952), explores how the Black subject internalizes the white gaze, leading to alienation and self-division. However, his later writings especially The Wretched of the Earth move from psychological analysis to revolutionary praxis. Here, Fanon calls for the complete overthrow of colonial structures through collective violence and political awakening. Fanon’s engagement with Marxism evolved through his participation in the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), where he became both a political theorist and a revolutionary spokesman.

His experiences convinced him that true liberation required not only political independence but also economic redistribution and cultural renewal. He died of leukemia in 1961 at the age of 36, shortly before Algeria achieved independence. Yet, Fanon’s legacy endures in revolutionary thought, inspiring leaders such as Che Guevara, Amílcar Cabral, and Steve Biko. His synthesis of Marxist materialism, existential humanism, and anti-colonial resistance continues to define the intellectual foundations of postcolonial theory.

6. Colonialism as Class Domination

Fanon redefines colonialism as an extreme form of class domination in which racial hierarchy and economic exploitation operate in perfect harmony. Drawing upon Marxist materialism, he argues that colonialism divides the world into two antagonistic zones: the colonizer and the colonized. These are not simply geographic or economic divisions but metaphysical ones a “Manichaean” world split between “good and evil, light and darkness, civilization and barbarism.”

In this binary structure, the colonizer embodies wealth, power, and humanity itself, while the colonized are dehumanized and reduced to “things.” Fanon writes, “The colonist makes history and knows it... The colonized are excluded from it.” The colonial order thus mirrors and intensifies the capitalist system Marx described where the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat. However, Fanon expands Marx’s analysis by including race as a central determinant of class status. In colonial society, class exploitation is justified and perpetuated through racial ideology. Furthermore, the colonial economy functions through structural dependency. The colonized nations produce raw materials, while the metropoles (colonial powers) accumulate wealth and industrial capital.

This creates a global class division between the capitalist centers of the world and the exploited peripheries what later theorists like Immanuel Wallerstein called the “world-system.” Fanon’s understanding of colonialism as a global capitalist network anticipates this idea. Thus, colonialism is not merely political occupation; it is a total system of economic extraction and social domination. Fanon insists that only revolutionary action not reform can dismantle such a structure. He calls for the “complete destruction of the colonial world,” because reforming it would only reproduce inequality in a new guise. His Marxist vision therefore demands not only the expulsion of the colonizer but the transformation of the very economic order that sustains oppression.

7. Violence as a Revolutionary Necessity

One of the most controversial yet profound aspects of Fanon’s Marxism is his justification of revolutionary violence. To Fanon, violence is not merely a tactic but an existential and historical necessity. Colonialism itself is a system of continuous violence physical, psychological, and cultural. Hence, liberation cannot occur through negotiation or passive resistance; it must confront violence with counter-violence. Fanon’s statement that “decolonization is always a violent phenomenon” underscores the inevitability of confrontation. This echoes Marx’s belief that class struggle is the driving force of history and that revolutions are born out of contradictions within the system.

However, Fanon goes further by psychologizing revolution for him, violence is a cleansing force that restores the dignity of the oppressed and destroys the internalized fear and inferiority imposed by colonial rule. Through the act of resistance, the colonized reclaim their agency and humanity. Fanon writes, “At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect.” This notion of violence as cathartic liberation distinguishes Fanon’s Marxism from orthodox materialism.

Yet, Fanon does not glorify violence for its own sake. He recognizes its tragic and transformative nature a necessary stage in humanity’s evolution from oppression to freedom. Like Marx’s dialectic, Fanon’s revolutionary violence is not the end but the means toward the birth of a new society. It destroys the colonial hierarchy but simultaneously constructs a new sense of collective identity. In this sense, Fanon aligns with Marx’s idea of praxis the unity of theory and action. Violence, for Fanon, is praxis in its most radical form: a moment when thought becomes action, and the colonized masses become subjects of history rather than its objects.

8. The Lumpenproletariat and the Role of the Masses

In adapting Marxist theory to colonial realities, Fanon reinterprets the role of the revolutionary class. While Marx identified the industrial proletariat as the revolutionary agent capable of overthrowing capitalism, Fanon saw this class as almost non-existent or politically compromised in colonized nations. The colonial proletariat, often employed in European-owned industries or urban sectors, was small and dependent on colonial wages making them less revolutionary and more reformist.

Instead, Fanon identifies the peasants and the lumpenproletariat the unemployed, beggars, street vendors, outcasts, and rural poor as the true revolutionary force. He writes, “In the colonies, it is the peasantry that constitutes the revolutionary class.” These marginalized groups, having nothing to lose, embody the purest form of resistance. Fanon’s focus on the lumpenproletariat marks a major departure from Marxist orthodoxy, which viewed them as politically unreliable. Fanon, however, sees their spontaneity and desperation as vital energies for revolution. Their rebellion, though chaotic, represents a genuine desire to destroy the colonial order that has excluded them from both material and moral existence.

Moreover, Fanon emphasizes collective consciousness as the driving force of liberation. Through revolutionary struggle, the fragmented and alienated individuals of colonial society unite under a shared vision of freedom. This process mirrors Marx’s concept of class consciousness but is redefined through the racial and cultural solidarity of the colonized. The lumpenproletariat thus becomes the heart of Fanon’s revolutionary humanism a force that bridges economic struggle and cultural renewal. In their collective uprising, Fanon sees the possibility of a new social order, free from both colonial domination and capitalist exploitation.

9. National Bourgeoisie and Postcolonial Betrayal

In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon delivers a scathing critique of the national bourgeoisie, the emergent ruling class that assumes power after decolonization. Drawing from Marxist analysis, he identifies this group as a continuation of colonial exploitation under a new guise. Instead of redistributing wealth or transforming the economy, the national bourgeoisie replicates the structures of oppression established by the colonizers. Fanon argues that this class is “incapable of great ideas or inventiveness.” Its primary concern lies in maintaining privilege rather than achieving social justice. The national bourgeoisie becomes an intermediary between foreign capital and the native masses, serving as a comprador elite that perpetuates economic dependency. In Marxist terms, this class functions as an ideological apparatus of neocolonial capitalism, preserving class divisions and halting revolutionary progress.

Fanon’s warning in The Pitfalls of National Consciousness is prophetic: postcolonial states, if led by this bourgeoisie, risk degeneration into corruption, clientelism, and authoritarianism. He insists that true liberation must be socialist in character, ensuring collective ownership and the empowerment of the working class and peasantry. Without a revolutionary transformation of production and consciousness, independence remains a hollow symbol “a flag and an anthem” masking class betrayal. Through this lens, Fanon extends Marx’s critique of capitalist class domination into the postcolonial sphere, exposing how freedom without social revolution becomes another form of enslavement.

10. Psychological Dimensions of Oppression and Revolt

Fanon’s background as a psychiatrist and revolutionary thinker enables him to interpret colonialism as both a material and psychological system of control. Colonial domination, he argues, operates through internalized inferiority, embedding the colonizer’s values within the mind of the oppressed. This results in what Fanon describes as a “collective neurosis” a pathological split between the colonized self and the imposed image of the colonizer. The process of dehumanization leads to self-alienation: the colonized subject desires whiteness, power, and acceptance in a world that continually rejects them. Fanon’s psychoanalytic insights, influenced by Freud and Lacan, reveal that colonialism functions as a psychopolitical apparatus that distorts identity, desire, and perception. Violence, therefore, becomes not merely a physical act but a therapeutic release a way for the colonized to reclaim agency and reconstruct the self.

In Colonial War and Mental Disorders, Fanon presents case studies of both colonized and colonizer, showing that violence corrodes the psyche of both. Yet, he maintains that revolutionary violence restores dignity and unity to the oppressed masses. It transforms fear into courage and passivity into political consciousness. This intersection of Marxism and psychoanalysis defines Fanon’s originality: liberation is not only about overthrowing material domination but also about healing the wounded psyche. The revolution, in his view, is a process of both social and psychological rebirth the restoration of human subjectivity after centuries of subjugation.

11. Cultural Resistance and the Rebirth of National Consciousness

For Fanon, culture is not a static repository of folklore but a dynamic expression of collective struggle. In his chapter On National Culture, he argues that culture achieves authenticity only when it participates in the fight for liberation. Colonialism seeks to erase or exoticize native culture, reducing it to primitive artifacts. Resistance, therefore, begins with the reclamation of cultural identity the rediscovery of indigenous values through revolutionary praxis. From a Marxist viewpoint, Fanon links cultural emancipation to class struggle. The intelligentsia and artists must reject the mimicry of European models and engage with the living realities of the oppressed. Literature, art, and music become weapons of resistance, articulating the pain and aspirations of the people.

He asserts that true national consciousness is born in the heat of revolution. Before independence, cultural nationalism may serve as a unifying force, but after liberation, it must evolve into socialist humanism a culture of solidarity, equality, and creativity. Without economic justice, culture risks degenerating into elitism or nostalgia. Thus, Fanon envisions culture as both a battlefield and a bridge: it connects the people to their history while propelling them toward a decolonized future. In this synthesis of Marxist materialism and existential humanism, culture becomes the soul of revolution the site where identity, resistance, and transformation converge.

12. Class Struggle and the Vision of a New Humanism

In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon extends the Marxist idea of class struggle beyond economic categories to encompass the colonial divide between the colonizers and the colonized. For Fanon, this binary is the most violent and dehumanizing class structure ever produced a world “cut in two,” where one half of humanity lives in privilege and the other in degradation. The colonizer’s city is clean, orderly, and rich; the colonized’s is filthy, chaotic, and starved. This spatial division, he insists, is the material representation of colonial class hierarchy.

However, Fanon reinterprets class struggle through the lens of decolonization. Unlike Marx, who viewed the industrial proletariat as the revolutionary vanguard, Fanon identifies the peasants and the lumpenproletariat as the true agents of revolution in colonial societies. These classes, untouched by bourgeois ambitions, embody a radical potential for collective uprising. Their spontaneous violence signifies the beginning of historical agency the transformation of the oppressed into subjects of change.

Fanon envisions a new humanism emerging from the ashes of colonialism a universal solidarity not based on Western rationalism or bourgeois human rights, but on shared suffering and mutual recognition. He writes, “For Europe, for ourselves, and for humanity, comrades, we must make a new start, develop a new way of thinking, and endeavor to create a new man.” This new humanism seeks to heal the fractures of colonialism, transcending both race and class divisions through revolutionary ethics. In this vision, class struggle becomes a path to spiritual renewal the reclamation of humanity denied by imperialism. Fanon’s Marxism is therefore deeply moral and existential, turning material revolution into a quest for collective rebirth and justice.

13. Comparative Marxist Analysis: Fanon and Classical Marxism

Fanon’s reinterpretation of Marxism in The Wretched of the Earth demonstrates both continuity and departure from classical Marxist theory. Like Marx, he locates oppression in economic structures and class exploitation, emphasizing that liberation requires the overthrow of capitalist domination. However, Fanon transforms Marxism to fit the historical reality of colonialism, where the primary division is not simply between bourgeoisie and proletariat but between colonizer and colonized.

In classical Marxism, revolution arises from industrial workers conscious of their alienation. Fanon, however, observes that in colonized societies, the industrial proletariat is often co-opted by the colonial economy and relatively privileged compared to the rural masses. Therefore, he places revolutionary faith in the peasants and the marginalized, whose struggle is both material and existential. Another point of divergence lies in the role of violence. For Marx, violence is an inevitable but instrumental phase in class revolution. For Fanon, it is redemptive and cathartic the act through which the colonized reclaims humanity and unity. In this sense, Fanon fuses Marxist materialism with existential liberation.

While Marx envisioned a classless society based on production and equity, Fanon’s end goal is a decolonized humanity a social order where the very categories of colonizer and colonized, superior and inferior, cease to exist. He infuses Marxism with psychological and humanistic dimensions, addressing the internal wounds of domination alongside its material roots. Thus, Fanon’s Marxism can be described as “existential Marxism” a synthesis of revolutionary materialism and the human quest for dignity.

14. Relevance of Fanon’s Marxism in Contemporary Contexts

More than six decades after its publication, The Wretched of the Earth remains profoundly relevant in analyzing the structures of global inequality and neo-colonial exploitation. Fanon’s Marxist insights illuminate the persistence of economic dependency, racial hierarchy, and cultural domination in the Global South. The multinational corporations and global capitalist networks of today reproduce, in new forms, the same patterns of extraction that colonial powers once maintained.

Fanon’s critique of the national bourgeoisie finds echoes in modern postcolonial states, where political elites often imitate former colonizers rather than serve their people. His warning against “the pitfalls of national consciousness” foreshadows the crisis of governance, corruption, and class inequality in many postcolonial nations. In the context of globalization, Fanon’s Marxism provides a critical framework to understand how capital and culture continue to colonize through media, technology, and markets. His call for a new humanism resonates with movements for decolonial justice, intersectional feminism, and environmental activism, all seeking liberation from structures of domination.

Moreover, Fanon’s emphasis on the psychological and cultural dimensions of oppression anticipates modern theories of identity politics, trauma studies, and critical race theory. He reminds us that revolution must address not only economic exploitation but also the alienation of the human spirit. In the 21st century, Fanon’s Marxism thus serves as both a diagnostic tool and a moral compass urging societies to confront global inequality while imagining a new world order based on solidarity, justice, and human dignity.

15. Conclusion

Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth redefines Marxism through the lived realities of colonialism. By merging class analysis with the psychology of oppression, Fanon exposes how colonial rule dehumanizes both the body and the mind of the colonized. He transforms the Marxist concept of class struggle into a broader revolutionary movement that includes not only economic emancipation but also cultural and psychological liberation. His vision replaces Europe’s bourgeois individualism with a collective humanism rooted in justice and equality.

Fanon’s philosophy remains deeply relevant today, as global capitalism and neo-colonial systems continue to reproduce inequality. His call for revolutionary transformation and the creation of a “new man” is not merely political but moral a demand to reconstruct humanity itself. The Wretched of the Earth thus stands as a manifesto for decolonization and human renewal, reminding us that true freedom must begin with the destruction of both material exploitation and mental subjugation.

Words: 3,747

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Parthiv Solanki

Tuesday, 4 November 2025

Assignment: Paper 203: The Postcolonial Studies