In times of imperialist crisis, the ruling class - faced with the near-insurmountable task of saving its own skin - always tries to pass the economic burden on to the working class. In order to soften the blow to its own profits, the bourgeoisie inflicts even harsher conditions on the workers, taking away all 'privileges', cutting wages, cutting jobs, cutting social provisions. The present Labour government was brought to power with the overwhelming support of this country's monopoly capitalists and media barons, who foresaw that Labour was the party to accomplish two important tasks for British capital in these difficult times. The first of these tasks was to make Britain's economic policy more in tune with the European Union (and hence share the benefits of having a European economic unit that can compete for the world's markets with US and Japan); the second task was to dismantle the welfare state, make cutbacks, and generally make the lives of workers a misery in order that British capital had a better chance of surviving the looming recession (which we have now been plunged into). Labour has, so far, proven itself worthy of the tasks set for it. Knowing that the vast majority of the trade unions are firmly in its pocket, this government has on its list of accomplishments in the field of social provisions the following:
- the destruction of free university education;
- the worsening of primary and secondary education for working class communities;
- attacks on disability benefits;
- attacks on lone parent benefits;
- failure to restore the link between earnings and pensions;
- introduction of the New Deal (the 'Deal' being that unemployed get to work for free in order to receive benefits);
- sell-off of large amounts of council housing;
- worsening conditions on council estates;
- gradual destruction of the National Health Service;
- gradual destruction of the transport system.
In short, life is getting worse for the working class - this fact is clear to black and white alike. There are fewer jobs, fewer opportunities, less money, less food, increasing desperation and poverty. And desperation can quickly lead to questions, which can - given the right conditions - lead to answers, which can lead to action. The question: why are we in this situation? The answer: because economic crises are inherent in capitalism, and the workers always feel the brunt of these crises. The action: unite to get rid of capitalism. To avoid the eventuality of such answers and action, what the imperialist governments and media have always done - especially in times of economic crisis - is to attempt to divide the working class along the lines of race and sex, thus creating a weak, powerless working class, rendered completely ineffective in the class struggle due to its divisions. Marx often pointed out how the British ruling class was able to poison the minds of the English workers against the Irish immigrnts. Writing in 1870, he goes so far as to say that the artificially-created antagonism between the English and Irish workers "… is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organisation. It is the secret by which the capitalist class maintains its power. And that class is fully aware of it." (Letter to Meyer and Vogt, 9 April 1870)
The so-called race riots that grabbed the country's attention this summer, in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley, were the product of the exact same technique of British imperialism - divide and rule. Through ghettoisation, through its thoroughly racist mass media, through racist immigration legislation, the ruling class has impressed upon the minds of many white workers that the cause of their every problem is the immigrants. How many stories have been featured in the pages of The Sun and other tabloids about this or that Somalian benefits-scammer or Albanian gang-member; the Sudanese man with 15 wives, and all the other "bogus asylum-seekers" who come to this country to live off the hard work of the good white folk? Meanwhile the liberal, who frowns at the crassness of The Sun, reads with interest the 'statistical evidence' in The Guardian or The Independent that blacks are 'x' amount more likely to commit crimes than whites, that vast numbers of asylum seekers are causing genuine problems to the economy, etc. The constant barrage of propaganda, which has its origins in the justification of slavery and colonialism based on the premise that the white European is inherently superior in intellect and ability to the colonial peoples, and hence has a responsibility to rule them, provides the white worker with an easy, although altogether incorrect, answer to his question 'why are we in this situation?' The black and immigrant worker is set up as a scapegoat, a cause of unemployment and poverty, a competitor with the Anglo-Saxon worker for jobs and grants.
While the government and the mainstream media have to retain some level of bourgeois democratic respectability, they have another tool available to them - the fascists (who, usually without visible connections to government or capital, are able to openly go round working class estates claiming that blacks are the cause of all the problems). The likes of the National Front and the British National Party are active on the estates providing an 'answer' to working class whites with very legitimate questions - it is no wonder the BNP are gaining support, especially given that their analysis is nothing but the logical conclusion of what the good people in government are telling us. And while the government are putting forward 'politically-correct' democracy-friendly solutions of integration, peace and harmony (while at the same time creating such conditions that preclude the possibility of these things occurring), the BNP are calling for altogether more accessible and immediate solutions - send back the darkies, they've got no right to be here. In short, capitalism breeds racism; capitalism breeds division; bourgeois democracy creates the ground for naked bourgeois dictatorship to take its place when required. Any talk of a solution to racial conflict that does not take heed of these self-evident axioms is just careful dodging of the issue.
This is the context in which the 'race riots' must be viewed. Conditions for all workers are getting worse; the communities are highly divided; many white workers have been duped into blaming the black workers for the problems which are actually caused by the capitalist system; some white workers have become so passionate in this belief that they have been driven to physical and verbal abuse against black workers; the black workers have had enough and start to fight back. Hence the capitalist class has succeeded in completely obscuring the natural class antagonism in society and has replaced it with racial antagonism.
It is obvious, then, that any analysis of the causes of the rioting that occurred in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley this summer must address very serious social issues - the role played by the government, the media, the legal system, the corporations, in promoting racial divisions. Any analysis that failed to consider these issues would be a complete fraud.
At the beginning of December, four government-sponsored reports into last summer's riots in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham were published. These reports, it is claimed, are the result of extensive research in the communities concerned, and make various recommendations as to how racial harmony might be achieved in this country. Unfortunately, all of these reports have missed the point completely. Each of the reports places blame for racial tensions exclusively with the communities involved - the whites and Asians are too distrusting of each other, the whites have failed to understand the immigrants, the immigrants have failed to adjust properly (some not even being bothered to learn the language) and so on. The most publicised report, of an extensive inquiry presided over by Nottingham's former chief executive Ted Cantle, totally disregarding any of the significant political and economic causes of racism and racial friction, ascribes the problem in its entirety to the apparent refusal of immigrants to integrate into British society. Claiming, no doubt correctly, that the violence will not stop unless the "depth of polarisation" around segregated communities living "a series of parallel lives" is urgently addressed, Cantle goes on to suggest that immigrants should swear an oath of allegiance to show their "clear primary loyalty" to Britain - "A meaningful 'concept of citizenship' needs establishing - and championing - which recognises the contribution of all cultures to this nation's development throughout its history, but establishes a clear, primary loyalty to this nation". The report further suggests that the use of English, which is already a pre-condition of citizenship, should become more rigorously pursued.
Home Secretary David Blunkett reinforced the message of the reports, saying: "Today's reports show that too many of our towns and cities lack any sense of civic identity or shared values. Young people, in particular, are alienated and disengaged from much of the society around them, including the leadership of their communities." Blunkett has also suggested that immigrants into Britain should have to attend 'citizenship classes' to acquaint them with the British way of life. Blunkett's comments on racial tension were so exceptionally divisive that they were heartily welcomed by top fascist Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, who said that his party would use Mr Blunkett's comments in its campaign leaflets, adding that: "David Blunkett's making these noises because he's seen the very large votes the British National Party has had in recent elections, and he's trying to shore up the working class vote. I am sure we will quote David Blunkett, but only saying [that] we've been saying these kind of things". (cited in Financial Times, BNP leader embraces Blunkett's line on race, December 11, 2001)
The hypocrisy of the Labour government's stance on race would be dazzling if the motives were not so clear. The same administration that introduced the universally-hated voucher system for asylum-seekers (were these meant to encourage a sense of 'civic identity'?); that popularised the concept of the 'bogus asylum-seeker'; that has been whipping up hysteria against Muslims since September 11th; that has been arresting non-whites without any basis for 'suspicion of terrorism'; that has shown through the reporting on the WTC/Pentagon attacks that it values white 'first-world' lives a hundred times more than it values black 'third-world' lives; that has waged war against Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, that has extended this country's racist immigration laws; that has failed to introduce anti-racist measures of any kind into the education system - this administration is talking about how the immigrants have to make more of an effort to integrate! This can be nothing but a scam, designed to deceive and divert.
Marxist-Leninists have always called for integration, but our meaning is somewhat different - we stand for integration of all working class people into the movement to oppose and overthrow capitalism! As internationalists, we do not wish for an "oath of primary allegiance" to any country but to the struggle of the workers and oppressed people worldwide for their emancipation. When Malcolm X said that capitalism is impossible without racism, what he meant was that without dividing workers on the basis of race, the oppressors would never be able to defend themselves from the fury of the oppressed. Conversely, the more the workers are able to break down racism in their communities and workplaces, the stronger the fight will be to throw capital into the dustbin of history. This is the true meaning of the fight against racism. This is why the fight against racism is not simply a fight to be waged by black people; this is why the fight against racism is not simply 'humanitarian'. The fight against racism is as imprtant for the white worker as it is for the black worker, because no worker will achieve liberation from oppression while the working class is divided.
Paraphrasing from Harpal Brar's book Bourgeois Nationalism or Proletarian Internationalism?: To create unity in the ranks of the working class, there are two things that must happen. Firstly the white workers must join in the struggle with blacks against the extra oppression that black workers face on top of class oppression; secondly black workers must realise that the race question is merely a subsidiary of the class question. They must avoid the temptation of being 'anti-white' and must join hand in hand with the white worker against racism and against capitalism.
Said Bobby Seale, one of the founder members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defence, in his book Seize the Time: "We see it as a necessity for us to progress as human beings and live on the face of this earth along with other people. We do not fight racism with racism. We fight racism with solidarity. We do not fight exploitative capitalism with black capitalism. We fight capitalism with basic socialism. And we do not fight imperialism with more imperialism. We fight imperialism with proletarian internationalism. These principles are very functional for the party. They're very practical, humanistic and necessary. They should be understood by the masses of the people ... So in essence it is not at all a race struggle. We're rapidly educating people to this. In our view it is a class struggle between the massive proletarian working class and the small minority ruling class. Working class people of all colours must unite against the exploitative, oppressive ruling class. So let me emphasise again - we believe our fight is a class struggle and not a race struggle"
Workers' unity will not come about easily - it will require a great deal of socialist education and decent leadership from the advanced sections of the workers, but as conditions under capitalism get increasingly bad and as struggle becomes more and more necessary, all workers will inevitably be forced by their circumstances to come together in a united culture of resistance in order to push the oppressor over the cliff on which it is precariously balancing.
Onward to the day when the former ruling classes will be made to attend 'citizenship classes' (with courses such as 'learning not to exploit', 'how to engage in socially useful work' etc) and will have to sign an 'oath of allegiance' swearing their acceptance of the principles of scientific socialism!
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