# Of Work and Wealth explained — Darkwater > Chapter companion for Darkwater by W. E. B. Du Bois. ## What happens Du Bois critiques the economic exploitation and racial oppression underlying American industrial capitalism, using the East St. Louis race riot as a case study. He argues that the profit motive and racial prejudice prevent the redistribution of wealth and the realization of industrial democracy, and he envisions a future where work is shared, leisure is abundant, and all races participate equally in economic life. ## Themes in this chapter ### Economic Injustice and Labor Exploitation Du Bois details how industrial capitalism exploits black workers, uses racial divisions to suppress wages, and prioritizes profit over human welfare. ### Racial Oppression and White Supremacy The chapter shows how white supremacy is weaponized by unions and employers to scapegoat black workers, culminating in the East St. Louis massacre. ### War and Imperialism World War I is presented as a catalyst for industrial demand and migration, while government suppression of strikes and colonial exploitation are linked to domestic racial violence. ## Character check-ins ### The Narrator Du Bois speaks as the narrator, analyzing economic injustice and racial dynamics. ### The Priest of Japan Appears in the allegorical 'Second Coming' section, traveling to Valdosta to observe a religious cult. ### Jim Crow Referenced as a symbol of systemic racial discrimination in transportation and military draft. ## Key lines > Our profit from degradation, our colonial exploitation, our American attitude toward the Negro. Think again of East St. Louis! The drive for profit, colonial exploitation, and racism—exemplified by the East St. Louis riot—are the main obstacles to economic justice. _Du Bois directly ties the riot to systemic economic and racial oppression._ > All humanity must share in the future industrial democracy of the world. Every person, regardless of race, must have a place in a just global economy. _Du Bois envisions a universal, inclusive industrial democracy._ > The whole situation lent itself to this terrible transformation. Everything in the history of the United States, from slavery to Sunday supplements, from disfranchisement to residence segregation, from 'Jim-Crow' cars to a 'Jim-Crow' army draft—all this history of discrimination and insult festered to make men think and willing to think that the venting of their unbridled anger against 12,000,000 humble, upstriving workers was a way of settling the industrial tangle of the ages. Centuries of American racism, from slavery to segregation, made it easy for white workers to blame black workers for their economic frustrations, leading to the riot. _Du Bois argues that the riot was the inevitable result of a long history of racial discrimination._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/iv-of-work-and-wealth - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/darkwater_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/darkwater_se/chapters