>>In my message above, I don't say that "empirical and subjective divisions &
>>hierarchical relations" don't matter; in fact, they matter _a lot_, and
>>that is why work of feminists, black radicals, etc. is of extreme political
>>importance, and so are struggles over skills, control, & autonomy in
>>workplaces. However, they have to be analyzed as secondary contradictions
>>_within_ the working class.
>
>This last line sort of surprises me; granted you say "extreme political
>importance," but it seems to me that most leftists who complain about
>identity politics simply feel it is secondary. Of course, the question is
>what does secondary entail.
I agree with you on the use of the term "identity politics," but you haven't & won't hear me using this term, except to criticize the use of it. (In fact, I argued for banishing this term, along with PC, for they muddy political discourse.)
What I mean by secondary contradiction is this:
(1) Contradictions organized through race, gender, ability, etc. do not function in the same way as the contradiction between capital and labor; once the horizon of socialism emerges before people as an objective possibility, there is a basis on which we can seek to overcome such contradictions and even work toward the abolition of such social categories and oppressions that work through them. In contrast, under the same conditions, the contradiction between capital and labor sharpens.
(2) The obverse of (1), the contradiction between capital and labor puts objective limits to our efforts to overcome racial, gender, and other oppressions. As you recall, Marx speaks of the "equal right" as "an unequal right for unequal labour"; treating people with different needs and abilities equally only perpetuates "a right of inequality." Even socialism in its early stage, Marx argues, cannot overcome this limitation; it goes without saying that, under capitalism, giving women, people of color, disabled people, etc. an "equal right" as abstract individuals (who are bearers of rights under liberalism) cannot abolish gender & other oppressions -- in fact, "equal rights" help to perpetuate oppressions.
That is why feminists, anti-racists, disability activists, etc. must of necessity become Marxists if we are to take our political objectives seriously (and vice versa -- we won't succeed in moving toward communism without taking on the maximum program of feminism, anti-racism, etc.).
Yoshie