Marxist Theory and The Class-Race Disconnect
One of the key tenants of radical political thought is that of self-emancipation as a means of breaking from the confines of social domination. This is almost explicitly observed in various Marxist texts, such as The Civil War in France, wherein the creation of the Paris Commune is used by Marx to exemplify the struggle for the creation of a working-class socialist government through self-emancipation. As stated in the text, the government created “was essentially a working-class government, the product of the struggle of the producing against the appropriating class, the political form at last discovered under which to work out the economical emancipation of labor” (Marx, “The Paris Commune”). The Commune came to represent a more politically and economically inclusive transformation of society. However, this view of self-emancipation through a Marxist lens fails to address class problems as pertaining to race and gender.
On the other hand, in her text Women, Race, and Class, Angela Davis counters this view through her focus on the levels of oppression faced by women of color before, during, and after slavery United States, along with her analysis of the residual inequalities that followed emancipation. Davis states that in most cases, the oppression of enslaved women and enslaved men were identical within the context of work, however, women were subject to “special abuses” such as sexual violence, which “facilitated the ruthless economic exploitation of their labor” (Davis, 10).
This intersectional view of domination is furthered through the text “Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination” by Patricia Hill Collins. In her text, Collins explains the role and perceptions of Black women in society and introduces the “matrix of domination” as a means of explaining the “interlocking nature of oppression,” namely the intersection between different aspects of oppression such as race, gender, class, etc. (Collins).
By focusing primarily on social class rather than aspects such as race, the problem is raised: this omission of race in Marxist theory erases the additional struggles faced by women and people of color and thus furthers the disconnect between class and race within contemporary society.
MARXIST THOUGHT AND CLASS RACIALIZATION
Marxist school of thought operates through the adoption of the idea that individuals are unified under class oppression. This viewpoint puts an emphasis on class oppression over other types of discrimination or oppression. The exclusion of race and gender does not aid in the unification of individuals under the working class but instead acts to erase the experiences of women and people of color. This is further explained and analysed in the text, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition, in which the author Cedric J. Robinson states that “the epistemological nature of historical materialism took bourgeois society on its own terms, that is, presuming the primacy of economic forces and structures” which eventually served as a “logical model for the emergence of the proletariat as a negation of capitalist society” (Robinson, 299). The primacy of economic matters leads to the understanding that members of the working class — namely composed of white men — are deemed to be the primary revolutionary agents within Marxism. This perception then implies that people of color and women are secondary agents not only within the resolution but within the working class. This division between primary and secondary categories of oppression undermines the multifaceted nature of domination.
This division and the primacy of class oppression is particularly relevant within the context of The Civil War in France wherein it is acknowledged that “the political rule of the producer cannot co-exist with the perpetuation of his social slavery”, however, the main purpose of the commune was established to “[serve] as a lever for uprooting the economical foundation upon which rests the existence of classes, and therefore of class rule.” (Marx, “The Paris Commune”). Again, a division between class and other forms of oppression is observed. Marxist theory rarely provides recognition to both the further forms of struggle and exploitation faced by minority workers within the capitalist society and the role in which colonialism played in their forced involvement as labor within the system that continues to disenfranchise them.
The idea of a primary oppressive factor observed within Marxist theory additionally perpetuated the racialization of social class. Erik van Ree, the author of the text “Marx and Engels’s Theory of History: Making Sense of the Race Factor”, calls this into question. The economic primacy observed within Marxist thought furthers the idea held by Marx and Engles of social classes existing as innate groups that act as the “‘races’ constituting a nation” (Van Ree, “Racialization of Classes’’). From characterizing specific profiles of particular classes, such as industrial proletariat versus bourgeois, to publicizing the idea that “capitalists must provide workers with wades to allow their ‘race’ to survive” (Van Ree, “Racialization of Classes’’). The idea of social class being established as a race was occurring due to the understanding that “if collective characters in the course of time could become innate, there was no fundamental reason why the mechanism that worked in the case of skin-colour and ethnic groups under sufficiently stable conditions could not work for social classes as well” (Van Ree, “Racialization of Classes’’). Ultimately, this racialization much like the primacy of economic oppression further minimizes the struggles of minorities, does not actively assist in lessening the oppression they face, and ultimately devalues the experiences of minorities and people of color.
INTERSECTIONALITY AND THE MATRIX OF DOMINATION
In hopes of solving this issue within Marxist theory, it is of utter importance to have a deep understanding of intersectionality and the societal impact of the matrix of domination as interpreted by Patricia Hill Collins.
The concept of intersectionality can be best exemplified through the lens of race and gender, the text Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis. Within her text, Davis explains the ideas of intersectionality within the context of slavery and how the roles of enslaved men and women had in society differed. She notes that the slave system viewed enslaved women as “first a full time worker for her owner and only incidentally a wife, mother, and homemaker,” which is a significant difference from her white counterparts (Davis, 9). The typical role of free women in society was emphasized to be acting as mothers, “gentle companions and housekeepers for their husbands” — in essence, white women were not further burdened by the expectation of slave labour. Davis additionally states that Black, female slaves were deemed “genderless” “when it was profitable to exploit them as if they were men’’ (9). Whereas, in cases where societally imposed feminine gender roles were expected and found to be absent, female slaves could be exploited, punished and repressed in ways suited only for women” (9). By approaching intersectionality from this lens Davis is able to differentiate the experiences of not only white women and enslaved women, but between enslaved men and enslaved women. Further, Davis explains how freedom from oppression in one aspect typically results in a shift to oppression in another aspect. While Davis’ book in its entirety focuses on a multitude of more nuanced factors impacting women of color, the core of her text reflects the importance of intersectionality within contemporary society in a post-emancipation capitalist world.
These ideas are further explored through Patricia Hill Collins’ text “Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination”, in which she outlines the different matrices of domination faced by an individual; gender, race, social class, etc., and provides an analysis on the impacts of such and how to combat its effects. The goal of shifting one’s analysis to the matrix of domination is its revelation that differentiating systems of oppression “may rely in varying degrees on systemic versus interpersonal mechanisms of domination” (Collins, 417). This matrix is centered on the idea of domination, or as defined by Collins, “seducing, pressuring, or forcing African-American women and members of subordinated groups to replace individual and cultural ways of knowing with the dominant group’s specialized thought” (417). Collins argues that through the understanding of the matrix, its application can be used to alter the impacts of oppressive societal factors.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Through Collins’ work, one feasible solution is established to reduce and ultimately halt the furtherance of the class-race disconnect perpetuated by Marxist theory; that of an emphasis on anti-racist policies and education. Collins emphasized the power of revolutionary change, stating that “the true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us. Or as Toni Cade Bambara succinctly states, ‘revolution begins with the self, in the self’” (417). This idea of the revolution being within the self is the core of the antiracist movement; a focus on self-education and the understanding of one’s privileges as a means of creating productive, long-lasting societal change.
Collins doesn’t necessarily argue for the separation of race and class as oppressive features but through her acknowledgment of both as independent ideas rather than an almost complete omission, as seen in Marxist thought, allows for the possibility of reform. She argues that “If only people of color and women could see their true class interests… class solidarity would eliminate racism and sexism” (417). Through the acknowledgment and classification of each independent form of oppression, would the working class be able to actively work to eliminate such oppression. While the ideas put forward by Collins are plausible in bridging the class-race divide, however, this solution would require societal change over a long period of time and wouldn’t address pressing issues that impact minorities and people of color today.
Another plausible solution can be explored through the context of the relationship between First Nations and municipal governments in British Columbia, Canada. Jen Nelles and Christopher Alcantara explore this case in their text “Strengthening the Ties That Bind? An Analysis of Aboriginal– Municipal Inter-governmental Agreements in British Columbia”. They analyze four types of partnerships: relationship-building, decolonization, capacity-building, and jurisdictional negotiation. They found that through the employment of decolonization and relationship-building partnerships, significant strides were made in the rectification of lasting colonial effects and provide significant proof for positive relationship growth with long-lasting outcomes. Their findings were twofold, first, they observed an “increase in the number of inter-governmental agreements signed since 1992” and secondly, “there has been a parallel increase in agreements designed to build and sustain long-term governance relationships between the partners relative to more utilitarian contracting and service provision arrangements’’ (Nells and Alcantara, 326). These findings can be understood to suggest more genuine, cooperative relationships between First Nations and their local governments.
The application of decolonization and relationship-building agreements are distinguished from their counterparts as they place “relative emphasis on recognizing and remedying historical inequities, both decolonization, and relationship-building agreements are similar in the intention to establish longer-term coordination between governments’’ (327). This solution is arguably more feasible as it encompasses some of the core ideas put forth by Collins, however allows for the separating of class and race as aspects of domination. This solution provides a concrete, structured approach to rectify the lasting inequalities from colonial times in a timely manner.
Works Cited:
- Davis, Angela Y. Women, Race & Class. 1st Vintage books ed., Vintage Books, 1983.
- Collins, Patricia Hill. “Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination.” Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings, by Charles C. Lemert, Westview, 2010, pp. 413–421.
- Marx, Karl, and Vladimir I. Lenin. The Civil War in France: The Paris Commune. New York: International Publishers, 1968. Print.
- Nelles, Jen, and Christopher Alcantara. “Strengthening the Ties That Bind? An Analysis of Aboriginal-Municipal Inter-Governmental Agreements in British Columbia.” Canadian Public Administration, vol. 54, no. 3, 2011, pp. 315–334.
- Robinson, Cedric J. Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. Zed, 1983.
- Van Ree, Erik. “Marx and Engels’s Theory of History: Making Sense of the Race Factor.” Journal of Political Ideologies, vol. 24, no. 1, 2019, pp. 54–73.
