by The Crusader Editorial Board¹

[Editor’s Note: We are happy to re-publish the following article, originally published last week in the new publication, The Crusader, which describes itself as a “paper [that] serves to combat the dispersal of forces among revolutionaries and to mainly recruit and propagate the revolutionary ideology of the working class to the Black nation with a focus on Black workers.” We hope this is the first of many guest articles to be submitted that have perspectives or write about topics that are incredibly critical to revolutionary labor work, organizing the working class, etc., but which are also still in need of significant investigation, line struggle, and theoretical work in order to develop solid ideological-political unity. While New Labor Press is still in the process of forging an editorial line on how to theoretically and practically address the National Question and Race Question as they relate to trade union work in our country, we hope that these guest articles serve to further the growing process of two-line struggle on this and many other issues that the labor movement faces nationally.]

Original Author’s Note: This was the first draft of an essay describing the history of the “White” nation in the United States, and addressing the need for white workers to combat and ultimately betray white supremacy. The main criticism levied is that the in the principal contradiction between the oppressor and oppressed nations outlined by the Communist Party of Peru, the method for resolving this question is outlined as “the development and triumph of new democratic revolutions”. This would generally imply the transition from a semi-feudal and bureaucratic capitalist economy to a developed capitalist economy guided by a proletarian party, with the proletariat leading this transition with the aid of the national bourgeoisie and peasantry. The United States is a fully industrialized capitalist economy, and while we do still hold that the oppressed nations and particularly their respective proletariat will play a leading role in the revolutionary struggle in the U.S., we hold that the contradiction between the proletariat and bourgeoisie is primary within the United States. This necessarily has as its solution the socialist revolution. The point of this essay is to elaborate on the role that the superstructure plays in maintaining the economic base, particularly how race plays a central role and that the socialist revolution in the United States must necessarily call for the end of White Supremacy and its manifestations in the superstructure and base. There is also work to be done for investigating the Chicano nation/Chicanismo, and how the national question is interrelated with the various indigenous nations on the North American continent.

1. The Problem at Hand

“The US is a multinational state, a “prison house of nations” (to borrow a term from the Bolsheviks used to describe the Russian empire). It consists of a dominant white oppressor nation that is the majority of the US population and various oppressed nations and nationalities that make up minority populations (though the demographics are shifting today).” ²

At present, many left organizations in the U.S. face a demographic problem in that many of its new recruits and active membership are overwhelmingly white. Naturally, this is to be expected in a country where around 60% of the population is white. Still, some organizations exist in areas with a higher concentration of oppressed nationalities (e.g., the U.S. South, Southwest etc.), and the question of drawing in members of these nationalities becomes more prescient. It is my observation that many oppressed-nations activists who join predominantly white organizations are those who have assimilated to some degree to the cultural norms of whiteness or at the very least, have had enough exposure to it so as to not feel alienated from these environments. This is not the case for many workers of the oppressed nations, as elaborated on in The 1928 Comintern Resolution On The Negro Question In The United States:

“Every member of the Party must bear in mind that “the age-long oppression of the colonial and weak nationalities by the imperialist powers, has given rise to a feeling of bitterness among the masses of the enslaved countries as well as a feeling of distrust toward the oppressing nations in general and toward the proletariat of those nations.” ³

We believe that this inability to draw in more oppressed-nations comrades is based on an incorrect orientation on the national question in the U.S. left. In the International Line of the General Political Line of the Communist Party of Peru, the PCP elaborates:

“Our Party sustains the view that in the current world there are three fundamental contradictions: 1. The contradiction of the oppressed nations, on one side, against the superpowers and imperialist powers, on the other. Here the thesis of the three worlds is delineated, and we formulate it this way because the kernel of that contradiction lies with the superpowers but it is also a contradiction with the imperialist powers. This is the principal contradiction and its solution is the development and victory of new democratic revolutions. 2. The contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, which has as its solution the socialist revolution and within that perspective, the proletarian cultural revolution. 3. The inter-imperialist contradictions, between the superpowers themselves, between the superpowers and the smaller imperialist powers and, finally, among the imperialist powers themselves, which leads to war for world hegemony and imperialistic wars of plunder which the proletariat must oppose with people’s war and in the long run, world people’s war.” ⁴

There is a tendency to conflate contradictions 1 and 2 within the borders of the United States as a nation-state, forgetting that there are oppressed nations within the U.S.’ very borders! The proletariat of these nations face the brunt of the exploitation of the U.S.’ ruling class, with large sections of our populations serving as the reserve army of labor (unemployed). Our nationalities are subjugated across class lines, with our petite bourgeois facing similar discrimination. The Black/New Afrikan nation is the most visible of these examples, but various nations (particularly First Nations) across the U.S. face similar precarious circumstances. We would argue that the main contradiction in the United States is between its oppressed nations and the main imperialist “White” nation, with the main contradiction within the “White” nation being between its proletariat and bourgeoisie. On the surface, this may seem like a game of semantics, but we believe this understanding is crucial to forging the iron-clad unity between the workers of the oppressor and oppressed nations. Let us not forget that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself was a party consisting of multiple nationalities, with its constitution enshrining the right to self-determination.

2. The “White” Nation

To quote Stalin from Marxism and the National Question:

“A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture. It goes without saying that a nation, like every historical phenomenon, is subject to the law of change, has its history, its beginning and end. It must be emphasized that none of the above characteristics taken separately is sufficient to define a nation. More than that, it is sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be lacking and the nation ceases to be a nation.“⁵

What is the “White” nation? On the surface, it would appear that it is just a nation wielded together of various European nationalities. Reality and history are not so simple, however, as various European immigrant groups prior to the mid-20th century (e.g. Italians, Irish) were not considered white. What, then, is the qualitative leap that occurs between “European” and “White”? How were different Europeans admitted into the “White” nation?

From “The CP, the Sixties: A Revolutionary Decade Without a Vanguard”:

“As top imperialist world power, the US bourgeoisie greatly increased its share of the imperialist plunder of Africa, Asia, and Latin America after WWII. It was able to use this plunder to stabilize its rule “at home,” in effect bribing off large segments of the US population with the spoils of imperialism. Consequently, the class struggles that had raged in the red decade of the 1930s were blunted in the 1950s. Large sections of the working class were bourgeoisified—they were provided a higher standard of living and economic stability and security with the spoils of imperialism. The petty-bourgeoisie was vastly expanded, suburbs of white single-home ownership were constructed, and Eastern European immigrants were decisively consolidated into the white oppressor nation. On this material base, the bourgeoisie had a strong hand to wage a campaign of anti-communist repression, greatly weakening the communist movement that had posed a real threat to bourgeois rule in the 1930s. In summary, being the top imperialist enabled the US bourgeoisie to blunt class contradictions at home and establish significant social peace in the 1950s. The CP aided this process by aligning with what it considered the “anti-fascist” bourgeoisie during WWII, in effect laying the ground for “class peace.” ” ⁶

For the European-descended proletarian, entry into the “White” nation serves as a sort of Faustian Bargain with the U.S.’ bourgeoisie. In order to secure some material benefits and privileges, these workers are encouraged to dissociate with their original cultures and heritage and instead identify with the U.S.’ “White” ruling class; a bourgeoisie whose culture and history lie in the plunder and theft of indigenous land, slavery, and wars of aggression. This was not a matter of simple self-identification, however. Naturalization was allowed according to the needs of U.S. Imperialism, particularly in order to disrupt unity between “White” workers and the workers of the oppressed nations, as mentioned above.

The “White” nation has its roots in the U.S.’ history of settler colonialism, in which various (mostly western) European settlers (English, German, Scots-Irish, Dutch. etc.) participated in the displacement and genocide of the continent’s first peoples. A turning point in the history of this nation was Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676. Planter Nathaniel Bacon was in a dispute with the state of Virginia over the desire to expand his property into indigenous land, as Virginia’s planter class at the time worried this would invite retaliation from the nearby indigenous peoples. The state pushed back against Bacon, and in response, he organized a militia consisting of white and black indentured servants and enslaved black people to raid the lands of the Susquehannock people. The conflict between factions of Virginia’s planting class resulted in the destruction of Jamestown, and the bourgeoisie at the time was shaken. In response, the ruling class began to implement more stringent laws around race in the colonies:

“After Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginia’s lawmakers began to make legal distinctions between “white” and “black” inhabitants. By permanently enslaving Virginians of African descent and giving poor white indentured servants and farmers some new rights and status, they hoped to separate the two groups and make it less likely that they would unite again in rebellion.” ⁷

After consolidating the “White” race and winning national independence from the British, the United States would continue on its project of settler colonialism and enslavement of African peoples. It would not be until after the civil war, when the northern industrial bourgeoisie abandoned reconstruction, that the formerly enslaved African people would be consolidated into the Black/New Afrikan nation. The Chicano nation, formerly part of Mexico, was also subjugated by the “White” nation through its war of aggression on Mexico, as well as numerous indigenous peoples and the peoples of Spain’s former colonies. By the 1900’s, capitalism had entered into the stage of imperialism and the settlers of the “White” nation, having been ruined by the newly forming monopoly bourgeoisie, transformed from a nation of landed settlers into one of mostly proletarians. This encouraged more waves of European immigration, primarily from southern and eastern Europe, and these disparate ethnic groups would eventually become “White”.

3. Proposed Line

“The Party must bear in mind that white chauvinism, which is the expression of the ideological influence of American imperialism among the workers, not only prevails among different strata of the
white workers in the U.S.A., but is even reflected in various forms in the Party itself. White chauvinism has manifested itself even in open antagonism of some comrades to the Negro comrades. In some instances where Communists were called upon to champion and to lead in the most vigorous manner the fight against white chauvinism, they instead yielded to it.” ⁸

The reason “White” is in quotation marks throughout this passage is to demonstrate tenuous nature of the “White” nation in the United States. The psychological make-up manifested in a common culture, as outlined by Stalin, shows that the “White” nation as it exists is inextricably tied to the history of settler colonialism and imperialism, as well as the exclusion of the oppressed nations from full participation in U.S. society. What appears to be one, solid “White” nation is the collection of various European descendants united on this basis, and this has damning effects on the proletariat in particular.

It is common knowledge that race is used by the ruling class in order to divide workers, but what is commonly misunderstood is how. “White” workers are incentivized to see themselves as white by the ruling class, therefore identifying with the oppressor nation before their class, or with the narrow nationalism of the class of their nation instead of the international proletariat. It is not a coincidence that the greatest period of organized labor in U.S. history was during a time of large-scale immigration, before these different European ethnic groups were consolidated into white American culture, and the necessity of internationalism was more apparent.

What we must impress upon the white sections of the working class is the necessity of treason- to call for the destruction of the “White” nation as a cohesive nation, inextricably linked to the violent and reactionary history of the U.S., and without which the self-determination of the nations oppressed by it cannot be guaranteed. This is not a call for “white genocide” or sending European-descended peoples back to Europe, but that the “psychological makeup manifested in a common culture” of the “White” nation stands as a roadblock to socialist revolution in the United States. Bearing in mind Stalin’s synthesis that “it is sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be lacking and the nation ceases to be a nation”, it is the psychological makeup at which we must aim. We must educate white workers on the particular role they play in helping the bourgeoisie uphold the division of the working class, and require their treason in order to support the national liberation struggles of the oppressed nations of the U.S., which will in turn serve as the greatest impetus for socialist revolution.

The patriotism of an oppressing nation in our capitalist epoch stands as a roadblock to the attainment of a stateless, classless, and moneyless society. In 1916, when asked if she believed in patriotism, Communist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn responded: “I would be ashamed to be patriotic of such a country… it is better to be a traitor to your country than a traitor to your class!”.⁹ In our organizing, we must take it a step further; for the white workers, we must demand that they be more explicit, that they inscribe on their banner: “It is better to be a traitor to your race than a traitor to your class!”

Endnotes:

1. This piece was also partially inspired by a website of the same name started by Noel Ignatiev. Ignatiev was an organizer of the new left labor group, the Sojourner Truth Organization, which organized in Chicago in the 1970’s and 80’s. ↩︎
2. Organization of Communist Revolutionaries. “The Sixties: A Revolutionary Decade without a Vanguard.” The CP, the Sixties, the RCP, and the Crying Need for a Communist Vanguard Party Today: Summing up a Century of Communist Leadership, Organization, Strategy, and Practice in the United States so That We Can Rise to the Challenges before Us., Kites Journal, https://kites-journal.org/2023/03/13/the-sixties-a-revolutionary-decade-without-a-vanguard/ ↩︎
3. Communist International. “The 1928 Comintern Resolution On The Negro Question In The United States.” The 1928 And 1930 Comintern Resolutions On The Black National Question In The United States, http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/CR75.html ↩︎
4. Communist Party of Peru. “International Line.” Bases of Discussion of the General Political Line, RedLibrary.info, https://redlibrary.info/works/pcp/international-line ↩︎
5. Stalin, J.V. Marxism and the National Question, http://www.marx2mao.com/Stalin/MNQ12.html ↩︎
6. Organization of Communist Revolutionaries. “The Sixties: A Revolutionary Decade without a Vanguard.” The CP, the Sixties, the RCP, and the Crying Need for a Communist Vanguard Party Today: Summing up a Century of Communist Leadership, Organization, Strategy, and Practice in the United States so That We Can Rise to the Challenges before Us., Kites Journal, https://kites-journal.org/2023/03/13/the-sixties-a-revolutionary-decade-without-a-vanguard/ ↩︎
7. Facing History & Ourselves, “Inventing Black and White,” last updated August 2, 2016. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/inventing-black-white ↩︎
8. Communist International. “The 1928 Comintern Resolution On The Negro Question In The United States.” The 1928 And 1930 Comintern Resolutions On The Black National Question In The United States, http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/CR75.html ↩︎
9. Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley. Do You Believe in Patriotism?, The Masses, March, 1916., https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/flynn/1916/patriotism.htm ↩︎