Is Kamala Harris’ father a Marxist? The claim, investigated

The presidential debate everyone had been anticipating with bated breath and heightened emotions happened last night, Tuesday, Sept. 10. It was Donald Trump’s seventh presidential debate and Kamala Harris’ first. However, Trump’s experience did not give him as much of an edge as some might have expected.

During the debate, the Republican nominee – surprise, surprise – resorted to his usual arsenal of ad hominem attacks. One of those “attacks” claimed Donald J. Harris, and his daughter after him, are Marxists. In his words: “She is a Marxist. Everyone knows she is a Marxist. Her father is a Marxist professor in economics. He taught her well.”

It always tickles my funny bone to hear Trump use the word “Marxist” because, if one were to ask him what Das Kapital is, odds are he wouldn’t have a clue or say it is a German song, perhaps by Rammstein.

The word “Marxist” has acquired a loaded, often negative connotation, especially when it’s used on one side of the political spectrum. However, the supposed insult rarely comes from the mouths of those who have read a single word Karl Marx wrote. It would have been enlightening if Trump had managed to articulate the exact dangers of a person being “Marxist,” and what it means in actual practice. But years of evidence have shown that’s not his MO, he’d much rather hurl the word at his opponent and pray it sticks.

When it comes to Kamala, the “insult” doesn’t make an awful lot of sense considering she has repeatedly made clear she supports capitalism. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, said: “Her vision is pro-capitalism, pro-innovation, pro-growth, you know, lots of employment, lots of housing. It’s just forward-looking” (per TIME). But where does her father stand on the issue?

Is Donald Harris pro-Marxism?

In her 2019 memoir, Kamala Harris wrote about her father:

“My father, Donald Harris, was born in Jamaica in 1938. He was a brilliant student who immigrated to the United States after being admitted to the University of California at Berkeley. He went there to study economics and would go on to teach economics at Stanford, where he remains a professor emeritus.”

According to The New York Times, Kamala’s father was an avid critic of “mainstream economic theory from the left.” He has indeed written on Marxist theory.

In a paper titled “Marxian Exploitation and Domestic Colonialism: A Reply to Donald J. Harris,” William K. Tabb begins by writing: “Few academics analyzing the conditions of black Americans have employed a Marxist analysis. An important exception is Donald J. Harris […].”

Tabb goes on to summarize the economist scholar’s perspective: “Harris expresses concern for what he sees to be a lack of rigorous development of the concept of exploitation, and an emphasis on the spatial dimension of a separate ghetto economy.”

Using Marx’s theory as a theoretical framework in one’s paper does not necessarily make one a Marxist, it may just mean that the scholar understands the importance and utility of the German philosopher’s body of work. Even if Donald Harris is a Marxist, chances are the academic could better justify and defend his position than Trump would be able to coherently explain what subscribing to Marxism entails without resorting to fallacies and misconceptions.

One of the comments on the TikTok video above reads: “I wish she had asked him to define Marxism 😂”

As a graduate of literature, I’ve read enough Marx and other political theorists like Hannah Arendt and Noam Chomsky to understand what Marxist theory stands for. I do not consider myself a Marxist, but then again, I don’t eagerly seek to hold on to such labels. Still, once in a while, it would be nice to hear some valid criticism of Marx instead of the clichéd, insubstantial employment of the man’s name as if he were the communist rendition of the bogeyman.