Youth, Class & Party

Section. VI. National and Racial Oppression

Our ultimate goal is the creation of a society free from all forms of oppression and irrational conflicts and divisions within humanity. Such a society can only brought about by a socialist revolution led by the working class. Our commitment in fighting against national, racial, sexual and generational oppression within capitalism is fundamental and absolute.

The existence act extra-class forms of oppression is also a major cause of false social consciousness. Groups like women, blacks and Chicanos see the major divisions in society as women vs. men, blacks. vs. whites, Chicanos vs. Anglos, and identify with ruling-class blacks, Chicanos and women. The fight to eliminate extra-class forms of oppression is basic to developing socialist consciousness by combating those experiences which undermine the unity of the working class.

The Leninist position in favor of self-determination for oppressed nationalities reflects the dual character at extra-class oppression. On the one hand it is designed to combat national oppression. On the other hand, it is designed to destroy the illusion that the miserable living conditions of national minorities are caused solely by national rather than class oppression. Leninists do not regard political independence as the socialist solution to national oppression, much less oppression in general. Rather, political independence helps create the preconditions for socialist revolution, partly by allowing the effect of national oppression to be viewed in the correct perspective.

There are certain classes of oppressed groups which appear similar to oppressed nationalities, but are not, and for which the policy of national se1f-determination is not applicable. Racial, religious and immigrant groups are in this category. It is essential to have a clear understanding and criteria for the existence of a nation, for which political independence is possible. The key criterion is whether a separate political economy can exist without fundamentally restructuring the existing national economy. Thus, Quebec has all the prerequisites of nationhood and can secede without fundamentally affecting the economy of English-speaking Canada.

One of the absolutely decisive questions facing the revolutionary movement is whether blacks constitute an oppressed nation for which self-determination is possible. Using our criteria, American blacks are clearly not a nation for whom political independence is possible. Blacks are thoroughly integrated into the American political economy, albeit at the bottom. They constitute a specially-oppressed and exploited caste, but not a nation.

That blacks are not a nation is attested to by the black nationalist movement itself, which is not primarily built around the demand for a separate state. Rather, what is called black nationalism is a false nationalism aimed at strengthening racial separation within the U.S. Contemporary black nationalism is a combination of cultural nationalism and traditional American ethnic politics (i.e., “community control”).

Blacks do not have a distinct language or culture and many of the particularities ascribed to blacks are common to all Southern rural poor. Attempts at discovering an African heritage are artificial and have been unsuccessful. In general, cultural nationalism is the worst possible policy in dealing with oppressed ethnic groups. It maintains ethnic divisions and prevents integration, which is the only way that minority oppression can finally be rooted out.

In opposing cultural nationalism, we are not indifferent to the image of blacks and other minorities presented in the schools and mass media. The U.S. is a WASP-dominated country and all other ethnic groups are made to feel like second-class citizens, the blacks and Spanish-speaking minorities most of all. We advocate the opposite of cultural nationalism--transitional demands leading to an international culture, created by having the educational system and the media present the history and traditions of all ethnic groups to all section of the population. It is just as important for white high school students to read Malcolm X as black high school students. Along these lines, we advocate that Spanish be made a standard language in the Southwest and other areas with large Spanish-speaking populations.

Policies called “black capitalism” or ”community control” are not aimed at creating a self-sufficient ghetto economy. Clearly this is impossible. Rather, “community control” is directed at expanding the role of the educated black petty bourgeoisie in the ghetto government bureaucracy, notably in education and the various poverty programs. As the government bureaucracy is financially dependent on the bourgeois state, there has arisen a collaboration between black nationalists on the make and sections of the ruling class, properly termed “pork-chop nationalism.” Since municipal labor unions restrict the absolute power of the new black administrators and aspiring administrators, pork-chop nationalism has taken on an openly anti-labor character, clearly demonstrated in the New York City and Newark teachers’ strikes.

While black nationalism represents the interests of the ambitious black petty bourgeoisie, it has great influence among the ghetto masses because it corresponds to the profound and pervasive oppression of the black people. A political struggle against black nationalism must go hand-in-hand with the resolute fight against all forms of discrimination and the intense exploitation of black workers. In particular, we fight against the lumpenization of the black masses and for their integration into the unionized labor force. Therefore, the light against racial oppression is completely bound up with the success of our economic program.

Reacting against the petty-bourgeois hustlerism of black nationalism, certain revolutionary groups, notably PL, have refused to oppose forms of discrimination which do not allow blacks to penetrate the middle and upper classes more easily. Restrictions on the upward mobility of blacks are part and parcel of the entire racist system and cannot be allowed to stand. The hustlerist aspect of the black movement must be defeated politically by being rejected by the black masses, not by erstwhile revolutionaries making a de facto bloc with the most reactionary section of the ruling class to keep blacks out of middle class jobs. We vehemently oppose keeping blacks down so as to make them more “revolutionary.” To the extent that the social structure of the black population resembles the rest of society, class rather than race consciousness will predominate among both blacks and whites.

Despite the intensity of their oppression, the black population cannot successfully combat the armed forces of the state by themselves. The police-ghetto battles resulted in the blacks being the ones who were killed, jailed and had their homes burned down. That is why ghetto uprisings on the order of Watts and Detroit have died out. However, in any conflict between the black masses and the police, no matter how unwise we believe such an action is, we defend the blacks to the best of our ability.

One of the most destructive concepts of the New Left was that black oppression was caused by white racism as a pervasive social attitude. By blaming the anger of the ghetto masses on the racism of the entire white population, the liberal establishment deliberately sought to hide the responsibility of the ruling class and the capitalist system. By accepting this liberal myth, fighting racism is no longer directed against the brutality of the state and the exploitation of the big corporations, but is transformed into a campaign of moral uplift, akin to religion. Racist attitudes bear a similar relation to the oppression of blacks as national chauvinism does to American imperialism. Such attitudes sustain racial oppression, but are not the cause of it, just as national chauvinism blocks the tight against imperialism but is not the cause of imperialism. While continually combating bigotry within the working class, our main struggle is directed at concrete acts and practices of racial oppression.

One of the most important effects of the rise of black nationalism was to split black and white radicals into separate organizations which sometimes collaborated, but often did not. The idea that the eradication of racial oppression can only be guaranteed through separate black organizations is fundamentally anti-communist. If racism cannot be overcome within the revolutionary vanguard, then a socialist revolution is clearly impossible. The revolutionary movement requires the greatest possible unity, equality between comrades and political intercourse. To take state power, there must be one integrated vanguard party, representing the working class in the interests of all the oppressed.

There remains a need for a transitional organization of the black struggle based on those aspects of the revolutionary Marxist program dealing with the black question. Such an organization is neither a substitute for nor an opponent of the vanguard party, but a link connecting the party with the broader masses. Such organizations express simultaneously the special needs of the black struggle and its relation to broader struggles, ultimately for workers’ power.

The Chicanos in the Southwest are a Mexican-derived population on land seized from that country through imperialist expansion. Thus, the Chicano population represents something of an extension of the Mexican nation within the boundaries of the U.S. The Chicano question is a genuine national one in which the demand for self-determination is applicable. If a majority in Chicano-dominated areas wanted to transfer those areas back to Mexico we, as internationalists, would support that right. However, most Chicanos do not want to return to present-day Mexico because the standard of living is much lower and the government just as oppressive. Thus, the demand for a separate Chicano nation has arisen. There is no Chicano “nation” as such. The Chicano question has a national character solely due to the historic relations between the U.S. and Mexico. To compensate for past imperialist aggression against Latin America, a revolutionary government in the U.S. would no doubt cede a portion of the Southwest back to Mexico. The Chicano then would have a clear choice of being Mexicans or integrating into American national culture. As advocates of equality between all nations, we support making the Southwest into a bilingual cultural area. While recognizing the national character of the Chicano nation, our primary approach to Chicanos is as intensely- exploited workers and poor agricultural workers, whose interests are bound up with the working class as a whole.

Puerto Rico was conquered by the U.S. in an inter-imperialist war. It is not integrated into the American political economy and remains a classic foreign colony. We support self-determination for Puerto Rico and look forward to the creation of a Puerto Rican workers republic. The Puerto Rican population in the U.S. is simply a recent immigrant group with no independent national character. Where a large Puerto Rican population exists as in New York City we support making Spanish a standard language. Like most recent immigrants, the Puerto Ricans are concentrated at the bottom of the social scale and like blacks and Chicanos are a specially oppressed section of the population.

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