> ...the white working class goes [exactly] against their
> own interest (materially defined), even when options closer to these
> interests are available. Black people however choose one among two
> options, the one which is arguably the lesser evil.
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White males who have historically had privileged access to the labour market
have resisted affirmative action for women and minorities, and workers in
small towns and rural states may be disproportionately conservative, but the
great majority of workers - black and white, men and women - share common
attitudes on the material issues which affect them directly. I commented
recently on another list:
"Working people (of all colours) are primarily dependent for their survival on their jobs and wages, on easy access to credit, and on healthcare, pensions and other social benefits gained from generations of struggle. That's why they have traditonally favoured expansionary fiscal policies which create jobs; monetary policies which make credit available at low interest rates; state labour policies which guarantee minimum standards governing wages and hours of work, safe and healthy workplaces, the right to form unions and to bargain collectively; and social policies which make health care, education, and retirement affordable for them and their families. In certain exceptional circumstances, issues of physical safety (war, terrorism, high crime rates, natural disasters) or of equal rights (national minorities, women, gays) can become paramount, but the social and economic issues delineated above have remained relatively constant core issues for workers in all of the advanced capitalist countries. The concentration of the working class in large cosmopolitan urban areas has also contributed to the erosion of divisions based on race, nationality, and gender and the formation of a political culture that is broadly liberal. So it is not by chance that the working class has tended to favour left-of-centre political parties which have reflected its traditional demands in their programs and, in periods of crisis, have been the main social base for movements farther to the left."