More Letters: Building Communist Relationships; Fighting Racism

Strengthening Communist Relationships here ♦ “Race” is a Social Construct here ♦

Strengthening Communist Relationships

Our collective discussed a recent report that said, “Every communist relationship has two aspects. The struggle about communist ideas and practice is primary, but we will never make progress unless the connections are personal as well.”

A comrade started the discussion with a reflection that personal connections among party comrades seemed much less close than in the past.  Then, she remembered, we spent much more time together at birthday parties and other social events.

Another comrade said that was true of her circle of old (non-party) friends.  They used to socialize informally a lot. But as they got older, they “became more concerned about appearances – more bourgeois.” Get-togethers became more formal and less frequent.

The growing isolation and alienation of many people in the US became well-known with the book Bowling Alone (2000), a third comrade mentioned.  We need to fight that by building communist relationships instead of the patriotic solidarity that the bosses want.

But what is a communist relationship?  Or better: How can we strengthen relationships among communists and with the masses?

“When we have similar goals and do work together,” one comrade offered.  “It’s showing up.”

“We haven’t shown up for each other enough,” said another.  She related, with emotion, several stories of comrades who became less active while going through personal difficulties.  “We need to check in with people especially when they disappear.”  She was critical of herself and others who hadn’t done that.

“It’s a struggle between individualism and collectivity,” she continued.  “We have to go out of our way to continue communist struggle and not let it go because of busy-ness. We need to build unity to continue the struggle. People want to be heard. You can’t convince them of anything if they don’t think you are listening to them.”

Another comrade questioned the idea that a communist relationship meant doing communist work together.  If that were true, how would comrades bring others into doing communist work?

“We need to spend quality time with them,” one offered.  “We have to mix the political and personal.” She also urged the importance of developing more younger leaders.  And agreed to think about what more she could contribute, given her skills and interests but also the constraints on her time.

“We need to cultivate friendships between age groups,” reflected an older comrade.

The discussion left a lot more for us to think about.  It ended with each comrade present committing to specific tasks toward strengthening communist relationships inside and outside the party.

—Comrade in California (USA)

Let’s Debunk the Concept of Races

I appreciated how the article “Deadly Racists ‘Replacement Theory’ Serves Capitalist Interest” exposed the racist practices and ideas of “Replacement Theory” and “Manifest Destiny.” It did an excellent job in tracing such racist practices to ruling-class interests. However, it did not state directly that the whole concept of “races” is a social construct created by the capitalists to divide us and maximize profits.

“Races” simply don’t exist. We haven’t proactively stated this as a fact in Red Flag. We should revisit this given the current onslaught of polarization in the US and the world: all divisions based on “races.”

One of the first to use “races” was a German scientist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, around 1776. At that time, European Americans gobbled up his lie that there were five categories: “Caucasian,” “Mongolian,” “Malayan,” “Ethiopian,” and “American.”

That lie was twisted to fit the needs of land- and power-hungry imperialists. Dividing human beings into different “races” made it possible for white Americans to enslave Black Africans, driving the capitalists’ profits through the roof.

To this day, capitalists use “races” to divide us and to maximize their profits. “Races” is always on their terms. Look at the history of US Census “race” designations. In 1800, there were three categories: “Free Whites,” Slaves, and “All other Free Persons except Indians not taxed.” In 1860, there were: “White,” “Black,” “Mulatto,” “Black Slaves,” and “Mulatto Slaves.” In 1980, there were: “White,” “Black or Negro,” “Japanese,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Vietnamese,” “Indian (American),” “Asian Indian,” “Hawaiian,” and the division continues. Fast forward to 2000 and you can even choose more than one “race.”

Racism is a byproduct of the idea of races itself. We all have rich and valuable ethnic backgrounds based on cultures, practices, and beliefs. We may have different ethnicities, but we share one race: The human race.

Most importantly, the ruling class uses “races” to control our behaviors and biases towards those workers who we think are different. But we have more in common than they want us to believe. Yes, we must embrace our cultural and ethnic differences, but we must reject the idea of “races” at every opportunity.

 “We must know our real history” which is that there is only one human race. We are all members of the same class: the working class. Destroying capitalism means destroying the capitalists’ many exploitative ideas and “races” is one of them.

In Solidarity,

—Red Teacher in Los Angeles (USA)

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