cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/352004
When I drag white ‘leftists’ for for having the nerve to “we don’t have a race problem, we just have a class problem”, I’m dragging them because this shit goes back as far as O’hare and Debs.
Yes. Our nation does have a race problem, and it’s just as big as the class problem.
I’d say the class problems created and perpetuate racial problems but race/national antagonisms have taken on an independent form and will still need to be addressed by a socialist government. Yugoslavia ignored the national question, look what happened. A modern socialist republic would need to immediately address such matters as one of its first acts.
Any “leftist” who doesn’t see the race problem is probably just a centrist. The unwillingness of supposed leftists from a hundred years ago to involve black peoples in their struggle helps explain why they failed to accomplish anything. I’ve literally never heard of these white feminists who they mention (O’Hare and Debs), so I’m not sure why the author bothers to mention them. The DSA is centrist, counter-revolutionary force and it always has been. CPUSA is run by the feds. What seems consistent is that the centrist organizations that call themself left are also racist which shouldn’t be of any surprise.
Isn’t Debs Eugene V. Debs who ran for president on the Communist party ticket from prison?
Maybe? In any case, it seems like the author is completely ignoring more modern socialist groups like the PSL which was founded by a POC. The article seems to be trying to scare away black people from socialism based on the actions of some minor white socdems from 110 years ago.
This is a problem I see a lot in certain leftist circles. Mostly the online ones on social media, which tend to be filled with white suburban kids.
In my opinion, The Dutch socialist subreddit is a good example of this. They have this weird form of white superior socialism they preach, where actual (succesful) movements from the Global South (read: non white) get shit on. This is coming from a group that has trouble organizing a protest, mind you.
Less so in real life. Coincedentally, the amount of MLs in real life versus Trotskyist or Ortho-Marxists in real life is the complete opposite online it seems, where almost everyone seems to be a Trots or an Ortho. I wonder if this plays a role in the things the article mentioned.
Shit even I learned that from Zinn in The People’s History of the United States. Hopefully more of my fellow white socialists start reading leftist theory from POC from around the world. Hell how many people here know that in the grave next to Marx in London is another grave of a comrade, Claudia Jones. Unfortunately she also had to deal with white socialist bullshit, but she she was placed next to Marx, and I think that’s special. There’s a great biography on her called “Left of Marx” if interested. The book kinda all over the place but it was interesting.
