Leftists (white) and Black Liberation, was Re: Civil Rights

James Heartfield Jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk
Wed Nov 7 09:43:14 PST 2001


In message <3BE94FFE.CF11B089 at ilstu.edu>, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> writes
>
>
>James Heartfield wrote:
>> I was not
>> arguing that black people were innately conservative, only that they
>> were not innately revolutionary. Wouldn't you agree?
>>
>
>Raising the question of innateness merely obfuscates with tautology.

If its a tautology, then I assume you agree that black people are not innately revolutionary.


>We
>are dealing with a historical reality of u.s. political life:

(oh, are we? Forgive me, but I'm writing from Britain. But I'm happy to modulate my arguments to your Americo-centric outlook, if you'll excuse my ignorance on the details.)


>progressive movements abort on the failure of white workers and white
>leftists to confront racism.

I can agree with that.

More than that, I can agree with the conclusion that is implicit in it:

namely that it is not the political consciousness of black workers that is decisive, but the political consciousness of white workers, they being the majority (and here you'll accept that, since we are talking historically, I leave out of account the growth in the Latino population.)

Put bluntly, black workers could never make a revolution in the US, being such a small minority. -- James Heartfield



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