International Socialists

Racism means, at root; to make physical or cultural differences between people into a basis for discrimination. It can involve skin colour, language or religion. In politics, racism is a way of diverting people's attention from the causes of their problems, and finding a “scapegoat” in some other group. The most infamous example of this is the atrocities of Nazi Germany. 

Racism is deep-set in all modern societies, including colonial-settler societies such as New Zealand and Australia. As one juror during the 1838 Sydney trial of settlers who were accused of the massacre of 28 Aborigines notoriously said: “I look on the blacks as a set of monkeys, and I think the earlier they are exterminated the better.” The settlers were let free.

While London’s official policy at the time was for equal rights and even recognition of land ownership for Aborigines, the white juror’s attitude, and the outcry in colonial society that white men were being tried for clearing away a few blacks, reflected the brutal racism that was a major factor in the founding of modern Australia. 

All capitalist colonial-settler societies, such as the USA, Canada, Israel, Australia, and even New Zealand have been founded to a greater or lesser degree on such attitudes towards indigenous peoples and, in the USA, towards descendants of African slaves. Racist attitudes towards non-white immigrants have also been a central feature of the development of these societies. Racism remains one of the main features of capitalist society.

A leaflet from the neo-Nazi British National Party (BNP), that was released shortly before I left the UK, begins by describing a female pensioner who suffers from bad housing and poverty, which is indeed a problem. But rather than attacking the vast inequalities in society the pamphlet reads: “if only the poor pensioner could apply for asylum”.

It talks about how the government sets minimum provisions for landlords who house asylum seekers – they  have to provide TVs! They must clean their windows four times a year! Of course, the neo-Nazi leaflet doesn't mention that asylum seekers are denied the right to work. It says nothing about the government forcing them into destitution or threatening to take away their children or deport them. Instead the leaflet set out to stir up resentment among one section of the working class against another.

It suggests nothing that will help the plight of pensioners. It shows “sympathy” for them, but offers no solution but hate for strangers. Nobody benefits from the BNP's argument. The pensioners need a big pension increase, financed from taxation on the rich. To win that, we need a strong and united working-class campaign - the very thing the BNP and other fascist and racist organisations hate and fear.

Fascists like the BNP may be the worst, but they're not the only racists. Britain’s home secretary at the time of the leaflet’s publication, the Labour Party’s David Blunkett is not a fascist but his endless attacks on asylum seekers are racist to the core. Indeed, they help groups like the BNP. Racism reinforces ideological differences between working people to divide them.

Racism doesn't even benefit the groups it claims to defend. In the US, for example, the most segregated states with the worst racism are also those with the lowest wages for white workers - and of course for black workers. It is the big employers who gain from US racism. 

Modern racism emerged with capitalism. African slavery provided the labour power needed to exploit the newly-discovered Americas. The European powers needed a an ideological justification. They invented “biological” differences between so-called “races” to legitimise white domination over African and Asian peoples. Today racism is used to divide working people across the face of world capitalism, hoping they will fight each other rather than unite against their common exploiters.

A more insidious justification is more common. Racists claim that people of “different cultures” can't mix together. Yet the whole history of our human species suggests quite the opposite. The very languages we speak are mixtures from all sorts of different sources. Our cultures are constantly enriched by interchange with others, whether it's technology, food, music, clothing or decoration.

Against the divisive hatreds of racism, socialists always argue for solidarity with the oppressed and for working class unity. Racism, which helps no one but our rulers, is endemic in class society. But it can be combated. Outside the small ranks of organised fascists, most racism today is shallow and deeply contradictory.

The same person can make a racist remark one day, and the next day sign a petition in support of an asylum seeker if the case is presented in a human way. It's notable that much of the voting support of the BNP in the UK and similar European far-right parties comes from the outer rims of cities and towns, where black and Asian faces are least seen.

There is a constant war within the working class. On one hand there are divisive ideas that tie us to our rulers and leave us feeling weak, hopeless and afraid. On the other are ideas of solidarity and hope for change. Socialists have to be part of that ongoing argument all the time.

Revolutionary Marxists see “race” as a product of capitalism which serves to reproduce this social system by dividing the working class. It can only be abolished by through a revolution achieved by an international, united working class – a socialist revolution in which people of all races join together against their common oppressors.