Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Oct 4, 2009, at 8:51 AM, Jim Farmelant wrote:
>
> > Well the traditional Marxist take on racism , sexism and
> > discrimination, was that these things were beneficial
> > to capital because they divide the working class
> > against itself, weakening it politically, and undermining
> > its bargaining power in relation to capital.
>
> I think that's historically true, e.g. David Roediger's work (though a
> lot of the hostility arose within the working class, as a byproduct of
> labor market competition - schisms that capital was quite happy to
> take advantage of). But I don't think it's true any more.
>
> By the way, what is the most successfully diverse institution in U.S.
> life? The military!
I think Tomas clarifies the issues at dispute here. The struggle for 200 years, he argues, has been for equality, against the "evils" of capitalism (or capitalism) as evil, not for freedom. Chuck speaks of what we had in mind or gave attention to in the struggles of the '60s, and at that level of intentions he is certainly correct. But what we achieved was equality -- i.e. larger sectors of the population became full citizens. (Equality merely means lack of formal limitations. All races, genders, etc become abstract citizens. This is/was essential as basis for the (future) struggle for freedom, and is not quite over: citizen has to be replaced with resident as basis for partiicpation in political life. But in general terms, it has been achieved. And of course it only made capitalism stronger. That's what all working-class struggle has done for 200 years. That is NOT a criticism of those struggles; they were/are essential.
The military is indeed an e xcellent example of equality strengthening capitalism even as it is also an absolutely necessary context for the struggle against capitalism. There is no contradiction here. It's merely part of what capitalism is. (And of course the inclusion of gays in the military would strengthen it even further. But also of course the inclusion of gays in the military is a core left demand. (Incidentally, leftists must oppose the draft but with fingers crossed: only an army of conscripts, a fully egalitarian army, will come over to our side.
One might almost say that _all_ gains of the people within capitalism are both necessary _and_ increase the strength of capitalism. It's almost a tautology.
Carrol