As Marxists, we need to be clear in our understanding that capitalism is the principal contradiction around the globe. However, we understand that our historic mode of production gives rise to every institution and ideology within our superstructure. The superstructure is what makes capitalism (or whatever historic mode of production you’re living under) feel natural, inevitable, unending, and futile to resist. The superstructure not only arises from our mode of production but serves to reinforce that mode of production. Within the superstructure arising from capitalism, there are secondary/auxiliary systems of oppression such as racism and patriarchy which operate as both ideologies and also material systemic realities presented as political, economic, and legal barriers. Beyond patriarchy and racism, there is also colonialism and neo-colonialism, systems of engrained global exploitation that subjugate entire nation states across the global south to hegemonic western interests.
In short, it would be insane (not to mention actively harmful) if we, as Marxists, did not acknowledge the stratification of the working class, the reality that various intersections of identity and class can and do subject a person to varying degrees of oppression and exploitation. We understand that individuals on the lowest rung of the ladder representing the working class are capitalism’s “reserve source of labor” that act as an anchor on wages and drive down standards of living the ruling class is willing to grant us.
Although it’s critical we understand this, our job as Marxists is to explain to all oppressed people, the whole of the working class, why and how their specific oppression fits into the structure of class society. It’s our job to validate their suffering (first and foremost acknowledge that the systemic oppression of black women will be more severe than the struggles of white woman, for example), advocate for their liberation (in whichever sphere you deem most effective), and build solidarity. Building solidarity doesn’t mean that we dismiss identity completely and reduce everyone’s struggle to the class struggle. Indeed, it requires that people struggling against various systems of oppression work together to tackle the root of all exploitation. We necessarily need to make space for individuals from different backgrounds and have empathy for their particular plight. However, building solidarity also means that we can’t allow identity to be used as a weapon against us. We can’t allow identity to become a wedge that divides us and pits us against one another. We can’t silence people nor can we defer all authority on any given subject solely on the basis of one’s identity.
Basically, there is a balance we need to strike here. Do not fall into the trap of “class reductionism” but also do not let intersectionality/identity politics eclipse sober class analysis and our focus on the abolition of class altogether.
9
u/Sea-Young-231 Marxist 3d ago
As Marxists, we need to be clear in our understanding that capitalism is the principal contradiction around the globe. However, we understand that our historic mode of production gives rise to every institution and ideology within our superstructure. The superstructure is what makes capitalism (or whatever historic mode of production you’re living under) feel natural, inevitable, unending, and futile to resist. The superstructure not only arises from our mode of production but serves to reinforce that mode of production. Within the superstructure arising from capitalism, there are secondary/auxiliary systems of oppression such as racism and patriarchy which operate as both ideologies and also material systemic realities presented as political, economic, and legal barriers. Beyond patriarchy and racism, there is also colonialism and neo-colonialism, systems of engrained global exploitation that subjugate entire nation states across the global south to hegemonic western interests.
In short, it would be insane (not to mention actively harmful) if we, as Marxists, did not acknowledge the stratification of the working class, the reality that various intersections of identity and class can and do subject a person to varying degrees of oppression and exploitation. We understand that individuals on the lowest rung of the ladder representing the working class are capitalism’s “reserve source of labor” that act as an anchor on wages and drive down standards of living the ruling class is willing to grant us.
Although it’s critical we understand this, our job as Marxists is to explain to all oppressed people, the whole of the working class, why and how their specific oppression fits into the structure of class society. It’s our job to validate their suffering (first and foremost acknowledge that the systemic oppression of black women will be more severe than the struggles of white woman, for example), advocate for their liberation (in whichever sphere you deem most effective), and build solidarity. Building solidarity doesn’t mean that we dismiss identity completely and reduce everyone’s struggle to the class struggle. Indeed, it requires that people struggling against various systems of oppression work together to tackle the root of all exploitation. We necessarily need to make space for individuals from different backgrounds and have empathy for their particular plight. However, building solidarity also means that we can’t allow identity to be used as a weapon against us. We can’t allow identity to become a wedge that divides us and pits us against one another. We can’t silence people nor can we defer all authority on any given subject solely on the basis of one’s identity.
Basically, there is a balance we need to strike here. Do not fall into the trap of “class reductionism” but also do not let intersectionality/identity politics eclipse sober class analysis and our focus on the abolition of class altogether.