From: "Wes Beal" <wlbeal-AT-ksu.edu>
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 00:31:52 +0000
Subject: Re: M-I: Reply to Carrol Cox


I'm still fairly new to this list, having shown up just in time to 
catch the beginning of the po-mo war; and I've been waiting until I 
could get a good sense of whos who and how things work before 
starting to post.  Seeing as how that still hasn't happened I figure 
I better just start now and suffer the consequences.

There has been some relatively intelligent discussion today 
following Louis' post.  Here's my 2 cents worth.

I agree with Zeynep and Justin that issues of racism and sexism 
predate capital.  I also agree that this does not allow us to escape 
dealing with these issues.  Just bringing issues of race and gender 
into a conversation nowadays, however, can result in accusations of 
political correctness.  When this happens, I try to explain that the 
difference between PC and cultural criticism (which, following Marx, 
we do), is this:

A politically correct person would say to Louis:  "Your language is 
sexist, and YOU are at fault for this."

A cultural critic would say to Louis:  "That language is sexist, and 
WE are at fault for this."

Marxists recognize that these are s o c i a l problems.  An 
individual bears as much responsibility for sexism as they do for, 
say, making history.  (Note that this takes no one *completely* off 
the hook.  Everyone has some limited agency here that they need to be 
responsible for.)

Back to an earlier point.  Issues of race and gender do predate 
capital; but do they predate social stratification?  My understanding 
of Marx is that he demonstrated (even celebrated) that capital 
removed all social divisions but one:  class.  After capital, social 
inferiority is no longer *natural* (read: based on race and gender 
(and heredity)) but rather:  economic.

Question:  If so, then what is racism and sexism still doing here?  
One immediate reason, which others have brought up, is that it 
prevents class-based solidarity; it weakens the proletariat's 
struggle; it eradicates any possibility of a worker's international.

Do we need any other reason than this to consider the topic serious?

Let's not weaken class struggle by focusing on language's role in 
identity po-mo politics.

Instead, let us strenthen the class struggle by a consideration of 
what prohibits solidarity.

-wes 


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