Dear MML, Many thanks for your kind invitation. It arrived a half hour ago, though. If possible, could you please send invitations sooner?
Many Thanks. best, Bill Solomon > On Feb 15, 2021, at 1:57 PM, Kevin Lindemann and Cathy Campo > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/considering-the-history-and-modern-usage-of-identity-politics > > Considering the history and modern usage of ‘identity politics’ > Allied to class, identity is a powerful force – but liberalism is a killer, > writes the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY > > Friday 12th Feb 2021 > > > From left to right: Gay rights activist Mark Ashton in 1985, Max Levitas > holding copies of the Morning Star, and prominent communist and anti-racist > Claudia Jones > THERE’S a sense in which all politics are identity politics. Politics are > about group interests. And groups are made up of people who share common > characteristics, interests or identities. > > We all have multiple “identities,” some of them in tension. Some — our sex, > ethnicity, family background — we’re born with. Others – job, hobbies, > parenthood, age — we acquire in life. Many of us suffer disability of some > sort. For each of us, such identities intersect to create a whole which is > richer and more complex than each of its component parts (some theorists have > called this “intersectionality” – something we’ll discuss in a later answer). > > The phrase “identity politics” was first used in the 1970s to characterise > campaigns against discrimination mounted by disadvantaged or oppressed > groups. Some formed their own dedicated organisations; others pressed their > demands through established political parties, trade unions or other bodies. > Such single issue campaigns have had considerable success in mobilising > activists, challenging prejudice and discrimination, winning extensions of > civil rights and protections, with benefits extending well beyond the groups > directly affected. Some have spawned liberation movements. > > Often this has involved an accommodation to the dominant ideas in society — > which remain always those of its ruling class. The limitations of such > campaigns become most evident where they fail to address the underlying > causes of oppression and discrimination. > > Most campaigners are also, whether they realise it or not, members of the > working class. Campaigns are most effective when, in addition to fighting > specific forms of oppression and discrimination, they also recognise what > unites us. > > Equally, class struggle — the effort to build a better, more equal, socialist > society — is most effective where it recognises and welcomes the diversity of > individual lives and experience. > > Claudia Jones was born in Trinidad in 1915. She immigrated with her family to > the US, settling in Harlem where like most of the black population she > experienced racism and poverty. Aged 18, she joined the Young Communist > League (YCL) and became a prominent communist, arguing in its theoretical > journal that the “triply oppressed status of Negro women” was a barometer of > US class oppression more generally. > > She was imprisoned several times for her activism and writing and was > eventually deported to England, settling in west London where she founded the > West Indian Gazette and the Notting Hill Carnival. She is buried next to Karl > Marx in Highgate Cemetery. > > Her ideas have been developed by many others, notably the communist activist > Angela Davis in her book Women, Race and Class. > Also born in 1915 was Max Levitas. Before his death in 2018 (aged 103) Max > was the oldest and longest-serving member of Britain’s Communist Party and > the last survivor of the 1936 Battle of Cable Street where Oswald Mosley’s > fascist Blackshirts were prevented from marching through London’s East End. > Max saw no contradiction between his Jewish identity and his identity as a > communist. Although not religious himself, he supported his local synagogue > and was buried in an orthodox Jewish cemetery. > > Another example is Mark Ashton, gay rights activist and general secretary of > the Young Communist League in the early ‘80s when he founded Lesbians and > Gays Support the Miners — an important element of public support for the > 1984-5 miners’ strike. Probably the single most important influence in > challenging contemporary working-class attitudes to homosexuality, Mark died > of Aids in 1987. The film Pride features him but studiously avoids mentioning > the fact that he was a communist — something as important to Mark as the fact > that he was gay. > > So identity politics, linked to class struggle, can be immensely progressive. > But divorced from the realities of exploitation and class, it becomes a > diversion. > > One of Margaret Thatcher’s achievements, symbolised in her declaration > “there’s no such thing as society: only individuals (and their families)” was > to decompose “traditional” class awareness into multiple identities; parent, > council tenant, commuter, consumer, taxpayer (the list is endless), each with > their specific needs all of which could, supposedly, be satisfied by reforms > – the “right to buy,” phoney “choice” in education, healthcare and pensions, > public-sector cuts — all of which, as a bonus, acted to reinforce the > exploitative nature of capitalism and at the same time hide the class > oppression that affects the vast majority of us. > > In parallel, the words “diversity” and “inclusion” have been appropriated by > the rhetoric of consensus, colonised debate, becoming an integral element of > institutional discourse and corporate strategy. From the “pink pound” and > corporate sponsorship of the annual Pride march to glossy magazine articles > and ads celebrating female “empowerment,” the appropriation of disability > issues for corporate purposes, the adoption of Black Lives Matter symbolism > by commercial advertisers (from Ben & Jerry’s to l’Oreal and Nike); > single-issue “identity politics” — having perhaps helped to secure wider > awareness — are then appropriated for corporate purposes and serve to > de-radicalise, disempower and obscure the continuing underlying oppression of > affected groups. > > Premier League footballers returned to action after the first Covid lockdown > with Black Lives Matter emblazoned on their shirts, also taking a knee in > memory of George Floyd. Crystal Palace (for example) publicly backed what > they called “the principles” of BLM but at the same time distanced themselves > from the movement, declaring that “organisations should not use this > important force for change and positivity to push their own political > agendas.” > > Collective, labelled group identities are never homogenous. Many who > celebrate their Jewish heritage see that identity as the richer for being > allied to (though never reducible to, never subsumed within) their parallel > struggle against bigotry, prejudice and fascism. Others see no such > connection. Yet others have been willing agents in a process of purging the > left of the Labour Party. > > Many former Yugoslavs greatly regret the disintegration of their country as a > force for regional unity and a successful model of socialism in practice; > others celebrate that collapse as providing a route to personal enrichment > and/or a phoney “national” independence (social property in Croatia has been > privatised and all the country’s banks, for example, are now foreign-owned). > > Though the term “identity politics” was coined fairly recently, there are > much earlier examples of it holding back the advance of the working class as > a whole. For example, in the mid-19th century, after the defeat of the > Chartists, competitive capitalism entered its “golden age.” > > A minority of skilled workers formed the so-called new model unions to > promote their sectional interests. They were able to benefit from Britain’s > brief monopoly of manufacturing (“the workshop of the world”) to win higher > wages, better conditions and greater security than the mass of “unskilled” > workers. They attached themselves to the capitalist Liberal Party and > resisted any efforts to create a separate mass party of the working class. > > Such people were conscious of their identity as skilled workers but oblivious > to the fact that they formed part of a wider class, all of whom were > exploited by capital. > > Their identity politics probably delayed the formation of a mass Labour Party > by several decades. > > So identity politics are never progressive if they serve to divide and > confuse. They can sometimes win concessions for certain groups, but that can > be at the expense of the unity of the working class and its allies. > > Identity movements can waste energy and passion attacking the wrong targets. > Identity politics also slide easily into extreme postmodernist approaches to > “truth”: “if I feel this way then that’s the end of any rational discussion.” > They can be hugely divisive when one “identity” becomes pitted against > another. > > They can be and are used by the capitalist system to “divide and rule,” to > prevent unity across the whole working class in its struggle for betterment. > > We are all composed of multiple “identities”: that’s what makes each of us > unique. But one that most readers of this feature have in common is that we > are members of the working class. And in the struggle to build a better > world, recognising this will help us, individually and collectively, not just > to interpret that world – but to change it. > > The Marx Memorial Library and Workers School promotes a wide range of > lectures and classes, including an online Introduction to Marxism course > starting on March 9.Details of these together with previous Full Marx answers > can be found on the Library’s website www.marx-memorial-library.org.uk. > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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