LETTERS, CRITICISM AND SUGGESTIONS
Material Basis of Sexism: More than Low Wages
A comrade wrote (last issue) that the Red Flag analysis of sexism “downplays the super-exploitation of women.” He argues that “the material basis of capitalist sexism is the super exploitation of women workers.” This includes “their underpaid labor in production and their unpaid labor in the home.”
Certainly, the super-exploitation of women workers is part of the material basis of capitalist sexism. But the comrade’s analysis is one-sided. It obscures key contradictions that propel the historical development of sexism.
First, he ignores a vital difference between “underpaid” and “unpaid” labor. One is commodity production (in the factory). The other is production for use (in the home). We should write more about this. It explains a lot about the changing status of women since the late-eighteenth century.
Pre-capitalist production was mainly for use. Almost all took place in or near the home, rural or urban. Slaves, serfs and servants had to produce mainly for the use of their oppressors.
Capitalism made commodity production (for sale) dominant. This created an opposition between “women’s work” in the home and wage-labor in the factories. Nineteenth-century feminists talked and wrote and argued a lot about what this might mean for women.
Lower wages for women echoed earlier laws and ideas that equated women with children as “dependents” of a male relative. But they were far from the whole story.
Starting in the 1800s, capitalist commodity production expanded into consumer goods (cloth, clothing, soap, food products). These were once all produced by women at home for use.
This expansion affected women in important ways, differently depending on class and location. It is another aspect of the material basis of capitalist sexism.
Also important is the interconnection between production and reproduction. Private property arose (well before capitalism) in tandem with the family (and religion and the state). These controlled women’s sexuality for purposes of inherited wealth.
Reproduction – the production of future labor power – cannot be ignored in discussing the material basis of capitalist sexism.
Women today worldwide are oppressed in ways that derived from earlier class societies. Gender roles even owe something to their origins in pre-class society. This is not to say that their origins are biological. It means that we can’t fully understand capitalist sexism without understanding its history.
In the blog extension of the comrade’s letter, he explains sexual harassment in terms of terrorizing women into accepting low wages. This is far-fetched. He assumes that sexual harassment is more common in working-class neighborhoods. Is this even true? This example shows the fallacy of his conclusion that “super exploitation explains almost every aspect of capitalist sexism.”
—Comrade in Los Angeles (USA)
South Africa: Planning the Fight Against Sexism
A few weeks back we were struggling with each other in a meeting about the need for us to do more in the fight against sexism. Even though the party is growing here in South Africa our membership is still male-dominated.
So the question was can we change this? We can’t seek the eradication of sexism while we are only males. We need female comrades to give leadership side-by-side with their male counterparts.
Therefore the recruitment of woman to join ICWP becomes primary, so we have made specific plans to rectify this issue.
For example, two of our comrades in our collective: One works at a call center, the other works at a retail. The comrade who works at the call center, at his work place they are 20% male and 80% female, but we do not have a single reader of the Red Flag there.
So we need to change that because that’s a fertile ground for us to plant our ideas. So our short-term goal is for us to establish networks of readers of Red Flag there. The next step will be for us to struggle with those readers so that they can be members–but it must go farther—those members must be active member.
—A comrade
Mexico City: Students Study Communism
Last Saturday night we members of ICWP and young university students got together to discuss The Communist Manifesto and our Red Flag newspaper.
Some of us prepared dinner, others met each other for the first time. While we were eating we started the discussion in a very pleasant way.
We presented the students with the Red Flag and explained that some of us at the dinner belonged to ICWP, an international communist organization.
They asked about the countries where we are present. We responded that we are on four continents, and that the industrial clubs of several countries were our best work but that all the other clubs also have the potential to mobilize the masses for communism.
The teacher introduced The Communist Manifesto, explaining the history of its elaboration, the class struggle, utopian socialism and other topics. In the discussion issues arose such as the dictatorship of the proletariat, the Russian revolution, Leninism, socialism and its difference with communism, the Chinese revolution and Maoism, and the development of productive forces.
We pointed out that the conditions exist for production to pass to the hands of workers to satisfy their basic needs. The productive forces and distribution logistics have already developed sufficiently. But that this will not be possible without a communist revolution.
The atmosphere of camaraderie and trust helped us share some reflections and personal experiences.
I told the group that as students we have some ideas and petty bourgeois pretensions that make us individualistic and doubtful about committing ourselves to a revolutionary process beyond our period as youth. This was something that was happening to me. These pretensions had led me to make mistakes that damaged the Party process. The young people answered that we all make mistakes, that it is precisely these that we have to learn from.
From this we concluded that there was an urgent need to incorporate more workers to the Party in Mexico since they are part of the truly revolutionary class, that we young students are partners on their road. We said that we must use our energy and resources to strengthen the organization of the workers.
We promised to continue with the study circle the following week. We will screen the film “The Young Karl Marx” and hope that more young people can attend this activity.
—Young Comrade in Mexico
The Working Class Has No Borders
I had to go to Tijuana, Mexico from San Diego, USA for work on November 15. I saw some of the people from the caravan waiting to ask for asylum.
I had intended to cross the border in a car, but the US immigration police have closed a number of inspection lanes coming out of Mexico, making it practically impossible to cross north. So I walked across. This is harder than it used to be, when people crossing south into Mexico were almost ignored by the Mexican immigration police. Now you have to fill out forms, answer questions, get a visa and have your passport stamped and your luggage searched. Seems to me that this is just to imitate the misery that the US immigration puts people through going north.
I walked into Mexico at El Chaparral, where a mass of people stood in line, hoping for a chance to apply for asylum. It is likely to take weeks to get to apply. I noticed a dad cradling a small baby with at least two other small kids right next to him. Next to him were many similar families with small children.
The kids were not very active for 9:00 am and I saw very few toys. A friend had just hit up for some money to buy underwear and jackets for the kids, but seeing what families and kids are going through makes the misery clearer.
When I came back through the plaza at 3:00 pm, I saw many fewer people, but people had left boxes or small suitcases to hold their place in line. This was sad, too, but not as bad as the little kids in line in the morning.
Walking back into the US, I saw a US soldier putting concertina wire on top of a high steel wall already surrounded by high concrete walls. Decoration for the “invasion” farce, I guess. The Tijuana-San Diego border has a lot of new construction of higher walls to replace the old walls that have been here for a long time.
On the news I hear Tijuana politicians being less than welcoming. In the rich neighborhoods of Tijuana out near the ocean, people are complaining about the refugees sleeping on the beach. Where I went in Tijuana, however, I heard nothing but sympathy and support for the Central American refugees coming through town. The working class has no border!
—San Diego Red
Smash All Borders, End Racism and Xenophobia. Support Immigrant Workers!
A march against immigrants fueled by fascist comments from the mayor of Tijuana has shown the ugly face of fascism in this city of immigrants. Some 300 demonstrators walked to different landmarks in the city and harassed a few dozen defenders of immigrants.
The virulence of these attacks can be seen in photos and videos. Shock groups with faces covered with ski masks wearing T-shirts with fascist slogans and carrying Mexican flags can be seen next to someone wearing a cap with the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Some immigrants interviewed by the press, fearful of being assaulted, have expressed their desire to return to their places of origin. Racism and xenophobia are on the rise in this city, and seem to increase as more migrants continue arriving in Tijuana. On the other hand, although only a few immigrant defenders came out to take a stand in the streets, the solidarity of a large part of the population has been demonstrated, bringing food, medicine and clothing to the immigrants.
Meanwhile, Trump has found a good ally in Juan Manuel Gastellum, mayor of Tijuana, a member of the National Action Party (PAN). This party has been linked by many to the “Yunque,” a secret organization defined as anti-communist, Catholic, and anti-Semitic. This “public servant” expressed his hatred towards immigrants and has said that he asks that Article 33 of the Mexican Consitution be applied to them, accusing them of being vagrants, drug addicts, violent, etc. In other words, deportation of those who are considered foreigners non grata. In addition, he wants to establish police checkpoints at the entrances of the city to prevent foreigners coming in to Tijuana. The same language is also used in Europe, and very soon in Brazil, and counting…. Capitalism breeds them, and fascism brings them together.
We Must Build Cross-Border Solidarity
On November 10, there was a pro-immigrant demonstration near the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. Two hundred people called for an end to the militarization of the border, solidarity with the immigrant caravans and against jailing immigrants coming to seek refuge. It included local activists and as well as a group led by Rabbis from other cities who said that Jews and others must not tolerate these attacks on those who come seeking refuge. There must be many more such demonstrations, this time with red flags and communist solutions!
The Democratic Party diverted many peoples’ anger at the racist attacks on the immigrant caravans to the election. The politicians of both parties support borders and immigration laws and jails. The masses must organize to welcome and help the immigrants in the caravans as part of the fight for a communist world without borders. In communism, everyone will be welcomed and needed everywhere to help collectively produce everything they need.
There is a fear that the chain of solidarity with migrants could crack as the fascist groups gain ground. The collaboration of those showing solidarity is based more on empathy and love of neighbor. We must win them ideologically not only to help, but also to participate in building a movement that fights for communism. The ICWP through Red Flag and our digital media are playing a very important role in the struggle to build a communist movement that crushes racism and fascism at their roots. We invite everyone to be a part of this struggle, and to collaborate with the distribution of our Red Flag newspaper and to be part of this movement.
—Comrades in the USA
Demonstration Against Militarization of the Border, El Paso, Texas, Nov. 10, 2018