Certain prodromes of his later position were observable early on. He took the floor of the 1969 American Historical Association Convention to argue *against* a resolution condemning the Vietnam War. He joined J. K. Fairbank and was opposed by Howard Zinn and Staughton Lynd. --CGE
On Sun, 11 Nov 2001, Justin Schwartz wrote:
> >...I remember them speaking in hushed tones that were respectful--but
> >obviously disappointed--about Eugene Genovese. I would later read about him
> >as an african american studies minor--as an often referenced source. still,
> >i never knew the story...if there is one. why did Genovese become a "former
> >marxist".
>
> It's a long story. G was a sort of Stalinist as a Marxist, and he was
> rather attracted to the reactionary critique of capitalism embodied in
> the pro-slavery defenses of the peculiar institutions, something about
> whuich he wrote a good book long ago. He had a contentious
> relationship with the Black Power movement, documented in part in In
> Red and Black. He was attacked as an apologist for slavery for his
> masterwork Roll, Jordan, Roll, in which he arguesthe (to my mind
> unexceptionable) Gramscian thesis that slavery rested on consent as
> much or more as on force. We had had this out here ona list a while
> back. G was, and is, also culturally conservative and hated the
> identity politics pomo left, regarded them as stupid and obscurantist
> and insufficiently appreciative of the virtues of a classical
> education. Somehow this set of discontents, in the wake of the
> collapse of communism, pushed him into the horrible embrace of the
> neo-Confederate right. A lot of his earlier views resonate for me, and
> I sometimes worry if I could drift there myself, but I think I am too
> deeply committed to liberalism. Besides, I couldn't stand to be with
> his current pals. jks