Date: Tue, 11 Apr 95 21:31:00 BST From: Ron Press <anclondon-AT-gn.apc.org> Subject: Racism Hi >>>>>>>>>> From: Justin Schwartz <jschwart-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us I would have hoped that someone else would bite on a discussion of affirmative action in this context. Do we want to talk about the determination of consciousness by social being? Here's a concrete case. Do we want to discuss interests and overlapping group membership? No better case could present itself. And this one matters in terms of concrete politics. As Scott says, it is even possible we could win this one. So let's hear it, eh? rom: Scott Marshall <Scott-AT-rednet.org But more fundementally if you can show the white worker that racism and prejudice "thus increase 'capitalist' domination over himeslf" then you are getting at his broader class self interest. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< I would like to give a quick rundown of how racism came to South Africa. It was originally populated by black people. The whites came in 1632. They stole the cattle and established a settlement. As they say 9 months later the first coloured people arrived. There was no real racism as such. There followed a number of wars of expansion by the white colonists. In many of these wars the white "tribe" made alliances with the black tribes. There is also the story of how some whites got shipwrecked of the coast and integrated with the local Xosa people. There were not enough whites to eliminate the blacks or to even try. Unlike the USA. Later trade unions were formed. These were mostly of skilled trades such as printing. There were no black trades unions as such. The black workers were mostly migrant and had ties to the land. Later the real industrialisation started with the discovery of diamonds and later gold. The miners who came were mostly from Australia. They were not organised workers but rather prospectors and freelance. They had brought their racism with them from Australia where they had come up against the aborigines. The trade unions quickly developed racial characteristics. The mine owners wanted cheap labour and wanted to employ blacks in skilled jobs. The white workers went on strike against black advancement. Or rather as it was put by their leaders a civilised wage for a civilised man. Or no replacement by cheap labour. On a number of accessions the black workers went on strike and they called on the white workers to help them, always in vain. When the whites went on strike they refused to ask or have the assistance of the black workers. The socialists of the time sought in vain to bring the two groups of workers together. After the 1922 white miners strike there was elections and the labour party and the white nationalists won at the elections and racial separation in the workplace was institutionalised. Of course the British who won the Boer war against the white nationalists had already agreed to a South African independence constitution which gave the whites the vote but not the blacks. The ANC had been formed in 1912. It was preceded by the African Peoples Organisation. So South Africa was on the path to a racially divided society. ****************** Well I put this history before you because it would be difficult to disentangle which came first racism within the working class or racism fostered by the capitalist class in order to divide. ****************** The egg or the chicken. Well to go on with the history. A battle ensued for and against racism in the trade unions and in the political movements. The Communist Party ( Although in the early days there was a strong white membership and leadership) quickly became a black lead organisation but non racist. White and black from an early stage were welcome and equal. ( Remember however they were human and there were problems) The ANC was a black organisation with no white membership. But to its credit it was never a racist organisation. In fact it worked even in the early days with the SACP and as you know at the Kabwe conference opened the membership to all races. People like Bram Fisher, Dr Dadoo, and many others were prime examples of whites and Indians who fought for democracy. These lessons were not lost on the ANC or the people they represented. Still racism grew in state circles. Interestingly enough within the trade unions the government had to bring in legislation to reinforce the ever present racism. In the Textile Workers Union in the middle 1950's we had white workers from Italy who joined the union when they were brought out to start a knitwear factory. A year later they had organised the African workers. Two years later they started their own branch. When the Government brought in legislation against mixed executives, ie not African-white but (coloured, Indian)-white they left the union. Ie racism slowly took hold. But circumstances sometimes alter cases. In the late 1980's ( the race separation in the unions had been repealed under international and local pressure) there were a number of instances where white engineering workers left the all white union and joined the non racial union "Because they fought for their members unlike the white unions" Today there is no racist legislation but there are still all white trade unions. I however know of no all black trade unions. It is a long struggle, over 300 years and we are not quite there yet. Now about what you in the USA call AA. ************* We are wrestling with this now. We feel that it is not discrimination in reverse. We feel that after 300 years the their has been caught. It is not enough to pardon him on the basis of confessing his crimes and saying he will not do it again. The victim must at least have recompense. We are not even saying that the criminals must return their loot. ( Although some say they should) but those discriminated against must at a minimum be given a leg up the ladder. ************* We are getting stiff resistance. Not necessarily from the white workers. Some liberals resist, some capitalists. It is mixed. Now the USA is different, the relative numbers are different, but there are parallels. And what of the future when the third world comes knocking more loudly on the door. After all the rubbish America throws away each day could keep the third world fed clothed and educated for weeks. Gatt, passport controls, and boarder police are but a symptom of the problem of race discrimination on a world scale. Ron Press --- from list marxism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- ------------------
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