http://libcom.org/history/paris-commune-revolution-counterrevolution-paris-1870-1871
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/donald-trump-chicago-protest-213728#ixzz42oC8qYAB
rosa roja
Your questions are valid but they deserve a longer answer than I can give here. I've written on this before, maybe you can find more of my view in earlier posts.
My short answer to you is that the struggle against racism goes hand in hand with the struggle for socialism. They naturally reinforce each other.
I am NOT saying "deal with race first and only then turn to class", i'm saying that putting the question that way is false. If we look at Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and others, we can see very clearly how they all evolved in the direction of socialism, King with more of a domestic focus, Malcolm with more of an anti-imperialist focus. This is without doubt one reason they were all too dangerous to leave alive.
What would I like them to say? It was against my better judgment to initiate this discussion, because I knew it would end the way it has. Some intrepid defenders of the party line like Justine have even descended to personal (if vague) attacks. However, your question deserves an answer, so I will try.
I would like the wsws to recognize that racism is more than an ideological construct, that it is a structure of systemic oppression, which is very much alive in the US.
I would like them to recognize that racism is a central support of imperialism, with which it has always been bound up.
I would like them to put as much effort into combating racism, as they devote to attacking what they call "identity politics".
I would like them to realize that the struggle against racism reinforces the struggle for socialism, and doesn't weaken it.
I would like them to realize that we will never overcome capitalism without vanquishing racism as well.
"Genuine human equality can only be accomplished by the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of socialism." Glad to see we agree on something.
Another excellent analysis, but why do you use the loaded term "Islamist", which only feeds the demonization of Muslims? I can understand why the bourgeois media would use a word like this, but not why you would. Would you refer to someone as a "Christianityist" or "Hinduismist" or "Judaismist"?
Hi Shannon,
I always enjoy your articles, but are you
suggesting that both Malcolm X and DRUM played a
negative role?? DRUM was a rank and file
organization the brought socialist and
revolutionary thinking into the auto plants in
Detroit. From what I remember, its influence was
on balance very positive. (Almost no development
can be wholly positive or wholly negative.)
Here's an extract from an article I found on it
at http://libcom.org/library/dodg (Note
especially the involvement of both white and
black workers.)
"DRUM was formed in May 1968 during the course
of a wildcat strike that protested against an
increase in production without an increase in
man-power. Most of the plant porkchoppers were
off in Atlantic City at a union convention and
the plant was shut down by a joint effort of
older Polish women from the Trim Shop and young
black workers. Since that time, DRUM has called
and led four additional wildcat strikes,
including one in July in which 3000 black
workers shut the plant down for two and a half
days, preventing the production of 3000 cars.
"DRUM demands, in addition to the specific
issues of speedup, discrimination, etc., include
black control of the local union and black
control of Management, from the lowest to the
highest echelons. They have succeeded in
disrupting the main Chrysler office and
administration centre and they have held a
sit-in in Solidarity House, national
headquarters of the Walter Reuther's
UAW. Although racism exists throughout the
plant, in the management, the union, and
rank-and-file workers, there has been
significant white participation in all of the
wildcats associated with DRUM. DRUM publishes a
weekly newsletter that is distributed throughout
the plant. There have been signs that the path
being broken at Dodge is being followed with the
formation of similar organisations at Ford and
at Chrysler. At Chrysler, a group of young white
workers have formed CRU -- Chrysler
Revolutionary Union."
Some additions to this excellent and important article. 1. As
TonyVodvarka points out, the prosecution of Ethel was likely
intended as coercion against Julius, not against Ethel. They
hoped that he would confess in order to save her from death.
2. The information supposedly provided by the Rosenbergs had
little or no scientific value in any case. 3. If it wanted to
survive, the USSR (like Russia and China today, even though
neither is socialist) had no choice but to develop weapons
matching those of the US. That it was capable of doing so
without help was demonstrated by its testing of an H-bomb shortly after the US. 4. I would not have used the word "guilt" in the article. Suppose for a moment that the Rosenbergs really had provided important information. Would they have been villains or heroes?
Shanna Harris
I agree with you 100 %, Rosa! The WSWS and SEP consistently deny the existence of institutionalized racism in this country. For all their talk of the "Working class struggle of both black and white workers alike" the fact of the matter is that IT'S NOT white males being disproportionately murdered by police on a daily basis, it's black males! The SEP is an organization run by white, cisgender, heterosexual, abled men who don't have to deal with being oppressed as an "other" within a classist capitalist system! Class ALWAYS intersects with race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, etc. for millions of people in this country, but the WSWS and SEP could care less! The SEP is nothing but a proponent of white supremacy and patriarchy trying to hide behind their pseudo-Marxism!
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