This blog is a part of the Thinking Activity assigned by Megha Trivedi Ma’am for the paper Postcolonial Studies. As part of this activity, we were instructed to select and answer any two questions from the given set of questions.
About The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon:
The Wretched of the Earth is a powerful and influential work written by Frantz Fanon, first published in 1961. It explores the psychological and political effects of colonization on both the colonized and the colonizers. Fanon, a psychiatrist and revolutionary thinker from Martinique, analyzes how colonialism dehumanizes people and argues that true liberation can only come through decolonization often involving resistance and revolution. The book discusses themes such as violence, national consciousness, culture, and the struggle for freedom, making it one of the foundational texts in postcolonial studies.
Here is video on Postcolonialism in Fanon's work :
“The Infrastructure is also a Superstructure” in Colonialism Frantz Fanon Explain.
Frantz Fanon, one of the most influential postcolonial thinkers, is widely known for his works Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961). His writings explore how colonialism affects not only the political and economic systems of colonized societies but also their psychology, culture, and human consciousness. In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon makes a powerful statement: “In colonial countries, the economic base (infrastructure) is also a superstructure.” This idea is both philosophical and political, summarizing how colonialism operates as a total system that controls every aspect of life material, ideological, and psychological.
To understand the depth of this statement, it is important to first examine what Fanon means by “infrastructure” and “superstructure,” terms he borrows and transforms from Marxist theory.
1. Marxist Background: The Relation Between Infrastructure and Superstructure
In Karl Marx’s model of society, infrastructure (or base) refers to the economic foundation the mode of production, such as labor, industry, and material resources. The superstructure, on the other hand, includes political, legal, cultural, and ideological institutions the systems of belief and social organization built upon the economic base. According to Marx, the economic base determines the nature of the superstructure; in other words, the economy shapes ideas, culture, and power structures.
For example, in a capitalist society, economic production depends on private ownership and profit, and therefore, its superstructure (law, education, religion, media) supports and legitimizes capitalism. Thus, while infrastructure and superstructure are distinct, they are deeply connected the base produces the conditions that sustain the ruling ideology.
2. Fanon’s Adaptation in the Colonial Context
Fanon adapts this Marxist framework to the colonial situation, but he also revises it significantly. In a colony, he argues, the relationship between base and superstructure is collapsed they are not two separate levels but one and the same. The economic exploitation of the colonized people (infrastructure) and the ideological domination through culture, religion, and language (superstructure) function together as a single mechanism of control.
Thus, when Fanon says “the infrastructure is also a superstructure,” he means that in colonialism, the economic domination of the colonizer cannot be separated from its ideological and cultural domination. The entire colonial system from plantations and mines to schools, churches, and media serves the same purpose: to exploit, control, and dehumanize the colonized people.
In a capitalist society, the ruling class hides its exploitation behind ideologies like “freedom” or “progress.” But in a colonial society, exploitation is nakedly visible and reinforced by violence, racism, and cultural oppression. Fanon observes that the colonized subject experiences both material poverty and psychological humiliation at the same time and both are products of the same colonial structure.
3. The Economic Base of Colonialism
At its root, colonialism is an economic enterprise. European powers invaded and occupied territories across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean to extract wealth and resources. The colonies provided raw materials, labor, and markets that fueled the economic growth of Europe. This economic foundation the colonial infrastructure was built on inequality, coercion, and racial hierarchy.
In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon writes that the colonial world is divided into two zones:
“The settler’s town is a strongly built town, all made of stone and steel. The native town is a place of ill fame, peopled by men of evil repute.”
This spatial and economic division symbolizes the structure of colonial society wealth, privilege, and modernity on one side, and poverty, exclusion, and backwardness on the other. The economy is organized to serve the colonizer’s needs, while the colonized are reduced to cheap labor.
However, unlike Marx’s capitalist worker, the colonized worker does not even share in the same system of production; he is excluded from ownership, rights, and recognition. His labor sustains the colonizer’s world, but he remains alienated and degraded.
4. The Superstructure of Colonialism: Ideology, Culture, and Power
Fanon argues that colonialism sustains itself not only through economic exploitation but also through ideological and cultural domination the superstructure. Colonial powers used education, religion, law, and culture to justify their rule and to make the colonized internalize their subjugation.
European colonizers often claimed that they were “civilizing” the native populations bringing them Christianity, progress, and reason. This false ideology served to mask the reality of exploitation. Through language and culture, colonizers imposed the idea that European civilization was superior and that the native culture was primitive, backward, and in need of reform.
Fanon exposes this psychological manipulation in Black Skin, White Masks, where he shows how colonized subjects begin to mimic the colonizer adopting his language, dress, and mannerisms in the hope of being accepted. Yet this imitation only deepens their alienation. They lose connection to their own culture without ever being truly part of the colonizer’s world.
Thus, the superstructure of colonialism its cultural and ideological systems directly serves its infrastructure the economic system of exploitation. The colonized are taught to see themselves as inferior so that they remain submissive and exploitable.
5. The Unity of Infrastructure and Superstructure in Colonialism
Fanon’s statement that “the infrastructure is also a superstructure” captures this total unity of material and ideological oppression. In colonialism, the economy, politics, and culture are all instruments of the same domination. The colonizer’s control over the land and resources extends into control over the native’s mind, language, and sense of self.
In this system, even religion and morality become tools of economic exploitation. The church preaches patience and obedience to the colonized while blessing the colonizer’s violence. Schools teach European history and values, erasing local traditions and languages. Law enforces racial hierarchies that keep the colonized powerless. Everything from trade routes to textbooks supports the same colonial infrastructure.
This is why, for Fanon, decolonization cannot be purely political or economic; it must also be psychological and cultural. Liberation requires breaking both the material chains and the mental ones. The revolution must dismantle not only the colonial economy but also the ideology that sustains it.
6. The Psychological Dimension
A crucial part of Fanon’s insight lies in the psychological consequences of this merged infrastructure-superstructure system. The colonized person lives under constant contradiction forced to accept the colonizer’s values while being despised by him. This leads to deep feelings of inferiority, shame, and alienation.
Fanon, trained as a psychiatrist, saw how colonialism produced mental illness among both colonized and colonizers. The colonizer becomes addicted to domination, while the colonized internalize oppression. This is why he insists that liberation must involve a complete restructuring of consciousness. Only by rejecting the colonizer’s ideological superstructure can the colonized reclaim their humanity.
7. Decolonization as the Reversal of the Colonial Structure
If in colonialism the infrastructure and superstructure are one, then decolonization must destroy both at once. Fanon describes decolonization as a violent process not only physical but also symbolic and psychological. The colonized must reclaim their land (the material base) and their culture (the ideological superstructure) simultaneously.
He writes in The Wretched of the Earth:
“Decolonization is truly the creation of new men. But such a creation cannot come about without the total liberation of the man and woman, that is to say, without the complete decolonization of the individual and of the society.”
Thus, for Fanon, revolution is not just political independence; it is a transformation of consciousness, where the colonized no longer see themselves through the colonizer’s eyes. Only then can a new, authentic social order emerge.
Conclusion
When Frantz Fanon declares that “the infrastructure is also a superstructure” in colonialism, he condenses the essence of colonial domination into a single idea: the total integration of economic and ideological control. In the colonial system, the exploitation of resources, the racial hierarchy, and the suppression of culture all reinforce each other. The colonizer’s power operates through both material violence and psychological manipulation, leaving no space for the colonized to exist freely.
Fanon’s insight challenges the traditional Marxist separation between base and superstructure by showing that, in colonialism, economics and ideology are inseparable faces of the same oppressive reality. His analysis also expands the meaning of decolonization it is not merely the transfer of power but the complete rehumanization of those who were dehumanized.
Ultimately, Fanon’s statement reminds us that colonialism is not just a system of production it is a system of thought, a way of seeing the world. To dismantle it, one must change both the structures of society and the structures of the mind. Only then can the colonized reclaim their full humanity and rebuild a world based on equality and mutual recognition.”
What is the national bourgeoisie, and why does Fanon think it is “useless”?
Frantz Fanon, in his revolutionary text The Wretched of the Earth (1961), provides one of the most powerful analyses of colonialism and decolonization. Among the many ideas he discusses, his critique of the national bourgeoisie the native middle class that rises after independence is particularly striking. Fanon argues that this class, which takes power after the colonizers leave, becomes “useless” because it fails to bring real change. Instead of transforming the nation, it imitates the colonial rulers and continues their exploitative system. For Fanon, true decolonization is not just political independence but a radical social and economic transformation something the national bourgeoisie is too weak, self-interested, and dependent to achieve.
Defining the National Bourgeoisie
The national bourgeoisie refers to the small, educated, and economically privileged group that emerges in colonized countries typically lawyers, doctors, politicians, businessmen, and civil servants who gain prominence as independence movements succeed. They are the local elite who replace the European colonizers in administrative and political roles. Fanon calls them the “intermediaries between the nation and the former colonial power.”
During colonial rule, this class often acted as the buffer between colonizers and the colonized. They were educated in Western schools, spoke the colonizer’s language, and adopted European manners, values, and ideologies. They were expected to represent “civilized” progress within the colony, though their authority depended entirely on colonial approval. After independence, this class assumes control of the state but rather than redistributing power or wealth, they continue the colonial model of governance.
Fanon’s critique of this class is not merely economic but psychological and moral. He argues that the national bourgeoisie lacks creativity, courage, and commitment to genuine national liberation. Their main goal is personal enrichment and social status, not the welfare of the people. In short, they are national in name only but colonial in spirit.
The Imitation of the Colonial System
Fanon accuses the national bourgeoisie of being a “mimic class” one that imitates the colonizer’s lifestyle and mentality. They desire the same privileges once enjoyed by Europeans: big houses, luxury cars, servants, and foreign goods. Instead of rebuilding the nation through industrialization or education, they focus on importing Western culture and consuming foreign products. As Fanon writes, “The national bourgeoisie does not fight to put the economy at the service of the nation; it contents itself with taking over the legacy of the economy left by the colonial system.”
This imitation leads to economic stagnation. The bourgeoisie, lacking the capital and expertise of the colonizers, cannot sustain industrial development. They rely on foreign companies and investors, often entering neo-colonial relationships where the former colonial power continues to control trade, resources, and political decisions indirectly. As Fanon observes, “The national bourgeoisie will be quite content with the role of the Western bourgeoisie’s business agent.” The result is dependency political independence without economic freedom.
The Failure of the National Project
Fanon believed that after independence, the national bourgeoisie should play a revolutionary role leading the masses toward a new national consciousness and building a just, self-reliant society. However, they fail to do so. Lacking vision and revolutionary zeal, they turn to political opportunism and corruption.
Instead of promoting the collective good, they form a new ruling class that exploits the poor just as the colonizers did. Fanon notes that their governance style mirrors that of the colonizers: centralized, authoritarian, and elitist. They do not engage with the peasantry or working class the real producers of the nation and thus alienate themselves from the majority. The revolutionary energy of the liberation struggle dissipates, and the new state becomes an empty shell of independence.
Fanon warns that this failure leads to political decay. Without economic reform or social justice, postcolonial nations risk sliding into dictatorship or chaos. The bourgeoisie, obsessed with maintaining their power, suppresses dissent and silences revolutionary voices. Fanon calls this phase “the tragedy of decolonization” when the promise of freedom turns into a repetition of colonial oppression, only under a different flag.
Economic Uselessness and Neo-Colonialism
One of Fanon’s central arguments is that the national bourgeoisie is economically unproductive and parasitic. Unlike the European bourgeoisie of the nineteenth century, who built industries and advanced capitalism, the national bourgeoisie does not invest in production or innovation. Instead, they depend on trade, bureaucracy, and foreign aid. They act as intermediaries between international corporations and the local economy, ensuring profits for external powers while keeping their own people in poverty.
This economic dependence perpetuates what Fanon calls “neo-colonialism.” Although the colonizers have left politically, they still control the economy through trade agreements, loans, and multinational corporations. The national bourgeoisie becomes the local manager of imperialism, serving the interests of Western capital rather than the nation. Fanon emphasizes that this system prevents real economic independence and leads to worsening inequality. The poor remain poor, the middle class grows corrupt, and the nation remains dependent.
He writes: “In its beginnings, the national bourgeoisie of the underdeveloped countries identifies itself with the Western bourgeoisie, from whom it has learned everything, but it does not possess its industrial and financial power.” This imitation without power exposes its hollowness a class unable to lead economic progress or fulfill revolutionary expectations.
Cultural and Psychological Dimensions
Fanon’s critique is not limited to economics. He also attacks the cultural dependency of the national bourgeoisie. Instead of fostering local culture, languages, and art, they glorify European civilization. Their education has taught them to admire the colonizer and to despise indigenous traditions. As a result, they fail to construct a new national identity rooted in the people’s experience.
This cultural mimicry produces what Fanon calls “alienation.” The national bourgeoisie remains mentally colonized still seeking approval from the West. They send their children abroad, wear European clothes, and measure success by Western standards. Their leadership becomes a continuation of the colonial mindset, not a rejection of it. For Fanon, this alienation prevents the creation of a truly decolonized consciousness, which is essential for freedom.
He contrasts the bourgeoisie’s attitude with the revolutionary potential of the peasantry and working class, who, though less educated, remain connected to the land and the realities of colonial exploitation. For Fanon, it is this class not the bourgeoisie that can bring about genuine transformation through solidarity and struggle.
Fanon’s Alternative: Revolutionary Humanism
Fanon does not merely criticize; he also proposes an alternative. He calls for the emergence of a “new humanism” rooted in equality, justice, and creativity. True decolonization, he argues, must dismantle not only colonial institutions but also colonial values. It must involve the reorganization of the economy, redistribution of land, and creation of a national culture that values the people’s experience and dignity.
For this transformation, leadership must come from the revolutionary intellectuals and the masses, not from the national bourgeoisie. The people themselves must participate in shaping their destiny through education, local governance, and production. Fanon urges postcolonial societies to reject imitation and dependency, and instead build self-reliance and solidarity.
He writes: “To fight for national culture means in the first place to fight for the liberation of the nation, that is to say, the material basis which makes the nation possible.” In this sense, Fanon envisions a new society that transcends both colonial capitalism and bourgeois nationalism a society grounded in collective empowerment rather than individual privilege.
Conclusion
In The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon’s denunciation of the national bourgeoisie remains one of his most radical and enduring insights. For Fanon, this class is “useless” because it neither transforms the economy nor liberates the people. It is a mimic elite, reproducing the inequalities and dependencies of colonial rule. Politically, it becomes authoritarian; economically, it remains dependent; culturally, it is alienated.
Fanon’s critique is not just a historical observation but a warning that political independence without social and economic revolution leads only to neo-colonialism. His vision challenges postcolonial nations to move beyond imitation, to empower the people, and to build a future rooted in justice, creativity, and true freedom. In rejecting the national bourgeoisie’s complacency, Fanon calls for nothing less than the rebirth of humanity itself, freed from both colonial and capitalist domination.
References
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. Translated by Charles Lam Markmann, Pluto Press, 2008.
Fanon, Frantz. “Preface to Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth by Jean-Paul Sartre.” Marxists Internet Archive, https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/1961/preface.htm. Accessed 09 October 2025.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Richard Philcox, Grove Press, 2004.
Sardar, Ziauddin. Frantz Fanon: Critical Perspectives. Pluto Press, 1996.
Young, Robert J. C. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Blackwell Publishers,
2001.
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