I won't wade into this debate, but sometimes our personal experience or knowledge can add to the discussion. I read Reed's article and noted one point that is clearly wrong:
"Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Communists, Socialists, labor-leftists, and Marxists of all stripes characteristically were in the forefront of struggles for racial and gender justice." As an alumni of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific and the Trotskyist movement, I can say that the SUP was racist in the 1930's; actually right up to just a few years ago. The U.S. Trotskysist movement had an important presence there, and used it for partisan struggles against the CPUSA and its allied factions in the maritime labor movement. It was important enough to motivate Trotsky to want to break with all pretences of principle and testify before the Dies Committee (HUAC), that was trying to deport Harry Bridges for being a communist. The trots also thought it important enough for JP Cannon to devote a section of "Notebook of an Agitator" to maritime labor, but without mentioning race at all - as if it were a non-issue. The problem with all this is that the disputes between the CPUSA and the trots in maritime labor were largely around race. The forerunner of the ILWU, the San Francisco ILA during the 1934 maritime strike, was largely organized by the CP and its allies, and race was part of that. The local black community did not scab on that strike, in spite of attempts by the employers to create that, because the strike organizers, with Bridges as chairman, pointedly disavowed racism and promised racial inclusivity after the strike to the black community. The SUP did nothing of the kind. It perpetuated racism and dug in its heels around that issue. The trots, using their presence in the SUP for partisan gain, remained silent. Of course the CP never let them hear the end of it. Naturally, those of us who study the history of all this have heard many accounts and interpretations of the events of that time. Almost none of these issues are black and white (no metaphor intended), but instead shades of grey. But I have to step away from that with one firm statement: The silence of Trotskyism on racism in maritime labor was a disgrace. The Socialist Equality Party has addressed this issue specifically; and in true form, they have taken the wrong position. They justified racism with disingenuous coverups, specifically over Trotsky's willingness to ally with the forces of reaction in an anti-communist crusade. Trotsky's excuses in his essay on that are shallow. To this day, Trotskyism, with the SEP exception, covers up their history on this. So back to my original point: No, Professor Reed; the left did NOT act uniformly in opposition to racism. Instead, racism was part of the divide on the left of that time - and still is. On Sun, Aug 23, 2020 at 11:13 AM Max Power <[email protected]> wrote: > Oops! The title and quotation are from here: > > https://newrepublic.com/article/154996/myth-class-reductionism > > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#768): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/768 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76368815/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES<br />#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.<br />#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.<br />#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
