General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We Need A Class Consciousness Revival [View all]socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)I'm sympathetic to this line of thinking, although there are nuances here that doesn't make it an "either/or" proposition.
Firstly there is NO organized Marxist system that recognizes racism or any form of discrimination as a legitimate reason to deny the benefits of the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat to anyone, no matter WHAT their identity. So a revival of Marxist class consciousness would be the OPPOSITE of, tacitly or overtly, encouraging discrimination. That's only found in capitalism. Malcolm X famously said, "You can't have capitalism without racism" and I believed him when he said it and I believe him now.
Secondly, Marx recognized surplus value (profit) as a form of oppression, so a revival of true Marxist class consciousness would also recognize this basic fact of class struggle. There are OTHER forms of oppression under capitalism, but this basic Marxian form is usually ignored by strict identity politics.
Thirdly, individual discrimination and bias becomes a personal issue alone when everybody has enough to live on in a shared, socialist economy. If the white guy has absolutely NO control over your economic well being and standard of living, then his bias has nothing to do with oppressing you. Only a system can oppress, not individuals. If he doesn't want to associate with you because of your color, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, then it's his loss, not yours. Your well-being will have nothing to do with his biases, so he can safely be ignored. The only caveat to this is if he personally and physically attacks you because of his biases. But that will be a rare occurrence and you will be free to defend yourself if a personal attack happens.
Fourthly, almost all identities are workers or at least members of the working class. Most are not part of that tiny sliver that are the bourgeoisie and, for the most part, the identities that ARE part of the bourgeoisie have MUCH more in common with other members of their class, even the racist, misogynistic, discriminatory ones, than they do with workers who share their identity. IOW, the interests of their class are MUCH more important to a member of the bourgeoisie than the interests of their identity. A revival of Marxist class consciousness would provide members of the working class with this same, basic commonality of interests.
Now, with all this said, we don't live under socialism. So to ignore the special oppression and super exploitation that happens under capitalism or to sweep those oppressions under the rug in order to foster some sort of forced unity by IGNORING the discriminatory impulses of some of the working class would also be a betrayal of Marxist ideas. We are scientific socialists, not utopian ones, so we can't avoid recognizing what IS in society. A Marxist can't compromise on this. We can't tell the white racist, not overtly or tacitly, who's a worker that his racism is OK because he's a worker. Being a member of an oppressed class doesn't mean he can get away with being an oppressor himself.
I know and interact with Marxists of ALL races, ethnicities, genders, and orientations and they can ALL find a basis for ending discrimination against their identity, indeed ending ALL systemic discriminations under a Marxist framework. They don't ignore their identity and the special problems that come from their identity, but they also recognize that Marxism is the framework that ends discrimination all together.