In the interests of moving this forward....
Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
>Now I come to you as a left communist, not an SWP'er, and I am
>not willing to lionize Malcom X. If that convinces you that left communism
>is not relevant or insensitive to black oppression, I will not attempt to
>convince you that the theory and practice of left or council communism is
>really the best theory for that specific form of oppression--it is not,
>and it was not developed to be. Of course I would argue that by digging
>deepest into the working class and keeping the interests of the class a
>whole in view, left communists have functionally been on the side of
>minorities over-represented in the most oppressed, often non-unionised
>sections of the working class. However, I think it is dishonest
>of genuine Marxists to claim that from *Capital* they can develop the best
>understanding of racism, though certain aspects of it are thrown into new
>light by that theory. Simply, the analytical focus of Marx's project is
>the abolition of capital, wage labor and the state. For example, the
>seizure of unused property by the unemployed, the self reduction in bus
>fares, wildcatting and the like are the kinds of activities that left
>communists have historically supported.
Rakesh, you've made your critique of Malcolm X and "black nationalism," whatever that is exactly, pretty clear. You say here that there's a racial oppression apart from class oppression. Where does it come from, and what's to be done about it?
Doug