{"id":108,"date":"2019-08-24T08:53:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T08:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?page_id=108"},"modified":"2019-11-17T12:42:29","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T10:42:29","slug":"identity-politics-and-the-struggle-against-oppression","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=108","title":{"rendered":"Identity Politics and the Struggle Against Oppression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Hannah Sell, CWI International Secretariat, 2015<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the search for a way to fight against\ndiscrimination and oppression, many young people in particular embrace identity\npolitics. It can be an important first step towards the development of\nsocialist consciousness \u2013 if it leads on to an understanding of the class\nnature of capitalist society and need for united, mass struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over recent years there has been a growth\nin support for what can broadly be described as \u2018identity politics\u2019 among many\nmainly young people who are rightly angry about and radicalised by, their\nexperience of sexism, racism, homophobia, prejudice against disabled people and\nother forms of oppression. In one sense, identity politics is an inevitable\npart of the political awakening of many members of oppressed groups within\nsociety. Recognising that you are oppressed, and that you can fight against\nyour oppression through a common struggle with others who share the same\noppression, is a vital first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the history of struggle against\noppression shows that, on the basis of experience, those participating tend to\ngo beyond identity politics as they recognise the root cause of their\noppression lies in the structure of society. The highest point of the vast\nrebellion against racism in the US in the 1950s and 1960s, for example, was\nreached by the Black Panthers, who were founded in 1966 with the magnificent\nconcept: “We do not fight racism with racism. We fight racism with\nsolidarity. We do not fight exploitative capitalism with black capitalism. We\nfight capitalism with basic socialism”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, both the #Black Lives Matter\nrebellion and the movement for $15 Now are the first stages of a new mass\nuprising against poverty and racism in the US. However, the pushing back of\nconsciousness globally over the decades following the collapse of Stalinism in\nthe late 1980s and the capitalist triumphalism that accompanied it, mean that\nthe new movements did not begin where the Panthers left off, with a socialist\noutlook. Nonetheless, there is a growing anti-capitalist mood among young\npeople in the US, which is a first step to drawing socialist conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, identity politics is many\nactivists\u2019 starting point. While those involved in struggle may see this mainly\nas a means to fight back, the form of identity politics that has emanated from\nthe universities and has dominated over recent decades concentrates\noverwhelmingly on discussing personal experience of oppression rather than\ntrying to find the means to end it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes all the strands of identity\npolitics that have become more prominent in recent years, such as\nintersectionality and privilege theory. In Britain these concepts remain little\nknown in wider society but have become commonplace in, for example, university\nfeminist societies. Intersectionalists argue that different oppressions\n\u2018intersect\u2019. Indeed, they do: a black working-class woman is triply oppressed,\nfor example. But intersectionalists often see their role as cataloguing and\ndescribing oppressions and their intersections rather than abolishing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of \u2018privilege theory\u2019 are best\nknown for telling people to \u2018check their privilege\u2019 during (often online)\ndebates. The founder of privilege theory, Peggy McIntosh, argued that a white,\nupper-class, heterosexual man, for example, is carrying around an \u2018invisible\nknapsack\u2019 full of unearned privileges. The argument goes that power is not\nconcentrated in the hands of one class, or in the state, but is spread\nthroughout society and therefore exists in all social and interpersonal relationships.\nPrivilege theory states that every individual is part of a multiplicity of\noppressive relationships. It concentrates overwhelmingly on exhortations to\nindividuals to change, to check their privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is not possible to eliminate either\noppressions or privileges merely by exhorting individuals to change their\nbehaviour. In fact, in many countries there have been significant improvements\nin social attitudes to different forms of oppression in recent decades, but\nthey have not resulted in the ending of the oppressions concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Racism ingrained<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Britain, for example, while racist\nprejudices are still widespread, crude racist ideas are far less socially\nacceptable than they were 30 years ago. This has come about for a number of\nreasons, above all the determination and increased confidence of black and\nAsian people to fight discrimination and racism. Another important factor was\nthe widespread involvement of black and Asian workers in the trade unions in a\ncommon struggle alongside white workers. Both of these factors helped to foster\na strong feeling among a large section of the white population, especially\nyouth, that racism is wrong and should be combated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, racism remains deeply\ningrained in British society. The police are up to 28 times more likely to stop\nand search you if you are black or Asian. The gap between average pay for white\nworkers and those from ethnic minorities has actually increased over recent\nyears despite an improvement in social attitudes. Over half of young black men\nare unemployed, more than double the unemployment rate for young white men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US the situation is even starker.\nWhile deep-rooted racism remains there has also been an improvement in social\nattitudes. There has been the development of a black middle class and even a\nsmall black elite. Both processes are reflected in the election of a black man\nas US president. The vast majority of the black population, however, remain\namong the poorest and most oppressed in society, facing violent state\nrepression. One hundred and thirty five African Americans were killed by the\npolice in the first half of 2015 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Racism does not just stem from individual\nprejudices but from something more fundamental: the nature of capitalism as it\nhas actually developed. Malcolm X correctly declared that, “you can\u2019t have\ncapitalism without racism”. Capitalism, as Karl Marx famously said, came\ninto being “dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and\ndirt”. (Capital, Volume 1, Chapter 31) He was referring, particularly, to\nthe role of slavery in the accumulation of capital. With slavery came the\ndevelopment of all kinds of pseudo-scientific racist theories designed to\njustify the enslavement of African peoples. Racist ideas were then adapted to\njustify the colonial oppression of large parts of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism was forced to abandon direct\ncolonial rule as a result of the magnificent revolutionary movements that took\nplace against it. Economic exploitation, however, is more brutal than ever. Two\nhundred and fifty years ago the gap between the richest and poorest countries\nwas around five to one. Today it is 400 to one. Racism is used to justify this\nvast gulf and also that black workers are usually among the poorest and most\noppressed sections of the working class even in the \u2018rich\u2019 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s oppression<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, blatant sexism is no longer\nacceptable in the way it would have been in the past, particularly in the\neconomically advanced capitalist countries. Women have won greater rights in\nrecent decades. There are different factors that have led to this, including\nthe development of improved and widely available contraception. However, many\nof these gains can be traced back to the growing confidence of women as a\nresult of many more women working rather than being isolated in the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, women continue to be\noppressed. This oppression stems, not merely from the attitudes of men, but\nfrom the role of women and the family in capitalist and earlier class\nsocieties. Most of us think of \u2018the family\u2019 as the individuals who make up our\nown family, who are often the people who are closest to us. Historically,\nhowever, the family as an institution has also acted within class societies as\nan agent of social control with the father as \u2018head of the household\u2019 having\nresponsibility for disciplining women and children. While this concept has been\nweakened in the modern era by the growing confidence of women, it is far from\neliminated. The idea remains deeply ingrained that women are possessions of men\nand that we need to be loyal and obedient to our partners, and that violence\nand coercion are acceptable means for men to achieve that, both towards \u2018their\u2019\nwomen and \u2018their\u2019 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no longer socially acceptable to\nopenly state that women are the possessions of men, yet these ideas were\nenshrined in law until relatively recently. Marital rape only became illegal in\nBritain in 1991, Spain in 1992, and Germany in 1997. While no longer legal or\nopenly acceptable, marital rape is still widespread and rarely punished. It is\nestimated that in Britain only 15% of all rapes are reported to the police, and\nonly 7% of those result in conviction. According to the UN, of all the women\nkilled globally in 2012 almost half were killed by their partners or family\nmembers. In contrast, only 6% of killings with male victims were committed by\nintimate partners or family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, women continue to bear\nthe brunt of domestic responsibilities despite increasingly also going out to\nwork. In many cases women are still, as the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky\nput it, the \u2018slaves of slaves\u2019. While in Britain, for example, most studies\nshow men accepting that they should do an equal amount of domestic chores as\nwomen, there is still a considerable gap between intentions and reality. One\nsurvey showed that on average women did 17 hours a week of domestic chores\n(excluding childcare) whereas men did less than six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true, therefore, that men get some\ngain from women\u2019s disproportionate bearing of the domestic burden, in having a\nfew more hours leisure time. The main gain, however, is for capitalism. By\nputting the main burden of domestic life, the bringing up of the next\ngeneration (from which the future workforce is drawn), and caring for the sick\nand elderly on women, they are removed from the responsibility of society as a\nwhole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Power concentrated in the capitalist class<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To suggest that power is not concentrated\nin one class is to completely misunderstand the nature of capitalism. Today,\nwealth and power is concentrated in fewer hands \u2013 the owners of the major banks\nand corporations \u2013 even than when Marx was writing. According to Oxfam, the\nrichest 85 people on earth \u2013 a double-decker bus full \u2013 have as much wealth as\nthe poorest half of the world\u2019s population. The richest 85 include five women\nand one African, although white men predominate. Their role in society,\nhowever, does not stem primarily from their colour or gender but that they are\npart of a tiny super-wealthy ruling elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s 100 biggest companies now\ncontrol 70% of global trade. Even if their boards of directors included many\nmore black people or women it would not make any material difference to the\nexploitation suffered by the working class and poor worldwide, not least black\nwomen. Look at South Africa, where the incorporation of a tiny minority of\nblacks into the capitalist class has made no difference to the dire poverty\nsuffered by the majority. And capitalism is increasingly incapable of taking\nsociety forward. Many of the rights partially taken for granted by previous\ngenerations in Europe, like a relatively secure job, home and pension, are now\nthings of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say that social relations in modern\nsociety are capitalist relations is not to take an \u2018economic determinist\u2019 view\nof society: arguing that every aspect of the \u2018superstructure\u2019 of society \u2013 the\nstate, politics, culture, social attitudes and so on \u2013 are rigidly determined\nby the character of the economy. On the contrary, there is an\ninter-relationship between the two. At the same time, politics and social\nattitudes reflect not only the current character of capitalism but also\nremnants of the past and \u2013 particularly in mass struggles of the working class\nand the oppressed \u2013 the seeds of a potential better future. Nonetheless, it is\nclear that as long as we live in a capitalist society, where wealth and power\nrests with the tiny elite who own and control industry, science and technology,\nthen the superstructure of that society will also ultimately reflect and act in\nthe interests of that ruling elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No amount of demanding that people \u2018check\ntheir privilege\u2019 will eliminate social attitudes generated and sustained by\ncapitalism. While determined mass struggle can force capitalism to adapt to a\ncertain extent \u2013 as has been the case with LGBT rights, equal pay legislation\nand other measures \u2013 permanent and deep-rooted change, particularly where it\nthreatens the functioning of capitalism, will only be achieved by the socialist\ntransformation of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The horrific bureaucratic degeneration and\nthen collapse of the Soviet Union have obscured the importance of the Russian\nrevolution in giving a glimpse of what socialism would mean for those suffering\noppression. In Russia in 1917 the working class led a movement of the oppressed\nwhich successfully overthrew capitalism for the first, and so far, the only\ntime. Russia\u2019s extreme poverty and the isolation of the new workers\u2019 state led\nto its degeneration. Nonetheless, in the early days it gave a glimpse of how a\nnew society could overcome oppressions that had existed for millennia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u2018backward\u2019 Russia, legal changes were\nintroduced very quickly which were many decades ahead of any capitalist\ncountry. These included universal suffrage, civil marriage and divorce when\nrequested by either partner, equal pay, paid maternity leave, the right to\nabortion and the legalisation of homosexuality. Oppressed nationalities were given\nthe genuine right to self-determination. Measures were taken to encourage\nnationalities and cultures oppressed under tsarism, including the development\nof a written form of some languages for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, legal or formal measures do not\nin themselves end oppression. Decades after the passing of equal pay\nlegislation in Britain, for example, women still earn an average of \u00a35,000 a\nyear less than men. Addressing women\u2019s oppression in the Soviet Union, Trotsky\ndescribed how legal equality was a step forward but actual equality in social\nrelations required a far more “deep-going plough”, capable of\nproviding real economic equality and lifting the domestic burden from women,\nand transforming social attitudes ingrained over millennia. A whole number of\nmeasures began to be introduced in the aftermath of the Russian revolution\n(including free childcare, communal restaurants and public laundries) which,\nwhile never fully implemented due to the degeneration of the Soviet Union, gave\na glimpse of how the domestic burden could be lifted. That, in turn, could have\nlaid the foundations for the building of a society based on women\u2019s equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many intersectionalists put very little\nemphasis on campaigning for economic and practical measures to lift the burden\non women, instead concentrating overwhelmingly on social attitudes, and trying\nto create spaces within society that are free of oppression. Yet freeing women\nfrom the heavy load of being the carers, cooks and cleaners for the whole of\nsociety is an essential prerequisite for ending women\u2019s oppression.\nTwenty-first century capitalism, far from taking steps towards this, is driving\nin the opposite direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austerity affects women severely. It\nincludes huge cuts in public services that partially lifted some of the\nresponsibilities that fall on women. David Cameron\u2019s big society could be\nsummed up as demanding that women compensate for the cuts to health, child and\nelderly care by taking the burden on themselves. This is a demonstration that\nunder capitalism, even where oppressed groups make gains, they are never\nguaranteed to be permanent. This also applies to the devastating, sometimes\nlife-threatening, consequences of austerity for disabled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Combating prejudice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pointing out the need for fundamental change\nin society does not in any way downgrade the importance of combating oppressive\nand reactionary ideas and practices while we live in this society, including\nwithin the workers\u2019 movement. However, this will by necessity be a constant\nbattle. Intersectionalists call for \u2018safe spaces\u2019 with zero tolerance for\nanything considered an oppressive view. But it is utopian to try and create a\nsafe space which is sealed off from the society in which we all live and are\naffected by. Turning inwards in order to concentrate on doing so \u2013 rather than\nturning out to build a movement capable of winning real change \u2013 is doomed to\nfrustration and failure. Far from creating safe spaces, this can often lead to\nan undemocratic environment, where the individuals dominant in a particular\n\u2018space\u2019 assert that they feel oppressed by ideas and opinions they disagree\nwith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a dangerous tendency to\nsuggest that the value of someone\u2019s contribution to a discussion should be\nbased primarily on what oppressions they as an individual suffer from. This is\ncompletely false. Britain\u2019s first and only female prime minister, Margaret\nThatcher, undoubtedly suffered individual oppression as a woman, but the\nneo-liberal programme she drove through was completely against the interests of\nworking-class women. Recently, Jeremy Corbyn, the new left leader of the Labour\nParty, has been attacked supposedly for not having enough women in his shadow\ncabinet, although his front bench is the first that has been majority women.\nMore women voted for Corbyn than for the other right-wing candidates (two of\nwhom were women) in the leadership election because he stood against austerity.\nHad he chosen a pro-austerity woman as shadow chancellor rather than the left\nMP, John McDonnell, most of the women who voted for him would have correctly\nbeen deeply disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue of safe spaces also relates to\nintersectionalists\u2019 views on gender: that the concept of two genders is a\nsocial construct and, in reality, gender is more like a spectrum. Emphasis is\noften put on supporting transgender people and all those who rebel against\nsocietal gender constraints. This includes some who do not identify as either\nmale or female but as \u2018gender-non-conforming\u2019. This reflects a positive\nrejection of current gender relations and homophobia by a growing number of\nyoung people. Socialists, of course, support the democratic right of\nindividuals to define both their own gender and sexuality. However, while there\nis radicalisation among an important layer on this issue, that does not mean it\nis possible to create, as some intersectionalists attempt, spaces within\ncapitalist society completely free from societal pressures regarding gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism shapes the outlook of all of us\nfrom the time we are born, with all of the distortions of the human personality\nthat creates. This includes how we are expected to behave appropriately for our\ngiven gender. It is not possible to fully escape this; in this society\ncapitalist gender roles are an objective reality. Even rejecting capitalist\ngender norms means reacting to, and therefore being affected by, those norms.\nIt is not possible to prescribe exactly how human relations, including the role\nof gender, would flower in the future when freed from the rigid straitjackets\nimposed by capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The role of the working class<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crucial issue for anyone determined to\nend oppression, therefore, is how to end capitalism and begin to build a world\nthat is free of oppression: a \u2018safe space\u2019 for all. Today, just as when Marx\ndescribed the working class as the \u2018grave digger of capitalism\u2019, it is the key\nforce on the planet capable of ridding us of this bankrupt system. Both\nprivilege theory and intersectionality would list social class \u2013 what they\nwould describe as \u2018classism\u2019 \u2013 as one form of oppression. However, it features\nas one item on a list and is often discussed in terms of the prejudice people\nface because of having a working-class accent or postcode. The centrality of\nclass in the structure of society is not recognised. The basic idea that a\nNigerian worker would have more in common with a worker in Britain or the US\nthan they would with Aliko Dangote, the only African to make it on to the list\nof the richest 85 on the planet, would not be understood. The fact that it is\nthe working class that is ultimately responsible for the creation of the\ncapitalists\u2019 profits and that by collective action it is capable of bringing\ncapitalist society to a halt is discounted as outmoded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the working class is not\n\u2018disappearing\u2019. In fact, it is potentially stronger today than it was at the\ntime of the Russian revolution. Many countries where workers were a tiny\nminority of society a century ago now have large and powerful working classes.\nIn the economically advanced countries, like Britain, deindustrialisation has\nmeant that the industrial working class is much smaller. However, there still\nremain groups of workers with enormous power to bring society a halt when they\nstrike \u2013 anyone who lives in London and witnessed the recent London Underground\nstrikes knows that. Deindustrialisation has not led to young people becoming\n\u2018middle class\u2019, but has forced them into low paid, temporary work, often in the\nservice sector. At the same time, large sections of the population \u2013 including\nteachers and civil servants \u2013 who would have previously considered themselves\nmiddle class have been driven down into the ranks of the working class in their\nliving conditions and social outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history of the 20th century repeatedly\ndemonstrated the preparedness of working-class people to fight for socialism.\nHowever, it also demonstrated that the capitalist class does all it can to\ncling to power, not least by attempting to divide and rule by turning different\nsections of the working class against each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, there has been increasing\nradicalisation and struggle globally, including revolutionary movements. Out of\nthese, largely unsuccessful, struggles conclusions will begin to be drawn about\nwhat is necessary to change society. That requires a mass revolutionary\nmovement, bringing together different sections of the working class \u2013 with\ndifferent experiences and outlooks \u2013 in a mass party with a clear programme and\na determined and accountable leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a party would not be a model of a new\nsociety, but a tool to bring it about. Nonetheless, it is crucial that such a\nmass party would include in its ranks all of the most oppressed sections of the\nworking class and that it is a vibrant and democratic force in which all\nparticipants feel able to express their views. Its programme, as was the case\nwith the Bolsheviks in Russia, has to fight for the rights not just of the\nworking class in general but also for different specifically oppressed groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undoubtedly, such a movement would also win\nthe support of wide sections of the middle class and even individuals from the\ncapitalist class who saw the need for a break with capitalism. This would\nparticularly include those who suffer oppression under capitalism and who\nrecognise that the only way to end homophobia, racism or women\u2019s oppression is\nto join the struggle for a new society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Struggle itself unifies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be ludicrous and deplorable to\nargue that those fighting their particular oppression should hold back and\n\u2018wait\u2019 for a unified struggle of the whole working class. Mass struggle is a\nthousand times more effective than exhortations to individuals to change their\nattitudes in winning social progress. It is always the case that a movement has\na greater chance of success if it is able to reach out to other sections of the\nworking class, and that therefore it is important that the programme put\nforward by a particular movement attempts to do this. However, that is in no\nway to suggest that any group should artificially delaying fighting back until\nthey, for example, convince more white or male workers of their cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, to permanently end racism in the US, for instance, will require ending capitalism and will therefore have to involve a struggle uniting different sections of the working class \u2013 black, Hispanic, Asian and white. This is a practical question. The African American population, who suffer the worst police racism, are 13% of the population and will not be able to win alone. The capitalist class will try to increase divisions between different sections of the oppressed, particularly at times of heightened struggle. The oppressed need to increase their strength by trying to maximise unity. The $15 Now movement in the US, and the election of Socialist Alternative member Kshama Sawant in Seattle, give a glimpse of the growing possibilities in the US to build a united workers\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achieving unity does not mean downplaying\nthe importance of combating the specific oppressions different groups in\nsociety face. On the contrary, it is vital that socialists campaign for the\nworkers\u2019 movement to fight to take up every aspect of oppression. The Socialist\nParty has a proud history of doing this \u2013 for example, spearheading the\nCampaign Against Domestic Violence in the 1990s which was central to getting\nthe trade unions to take the issue up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intersectionality on university campuses in\nBritain has had a tendency to turn campus feminist societies inwards, focusing\non a fruitless attempt to grade degrees of oppression rather than fighting to\nend it. However, many of those initially attracted to these ideas are searching\nfor a way to change society and will quickly come up against the limits of\nidentity politics in all its forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One small indication of this is the\npopularity among young people of the film Pride, which tells the true story of\nLesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). LGSM recognised the common ground\nbetween their struggle against the Tories and that of the 1984\/85 miners\u2019 strike.\nTheir attempt to support the miners was not without difficulties \u2013 with\nprejudices on both sides \u2013 but ultimately forged a real unity. LGSM understood\nthat a victory for the miners would have been a massive defeat for Thatcher,\nthe Tories and the capitalist class \u2013 and that was in the interests of LGBT\npeople. They never once responded to white, straight miners, who were often\ninitially homophobic, by telling them to \u2018check their privilege\u2019. One result of\ntheir heroic efforts was big parts of the workers\u2019 movement wholeheartedly\ntaking up the struggle for LGBT liberation, including National Union of\nMineworkers lodges from across the country leading the 1985 Pride\ndemonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The miners\u2019 strike was a major event in the\nclass struggle in Britain, but it will be dwarfed by events that will take\nplace in the future against the background of a crisis-ridden capitalism trying\nto drive the living standards of the majority into the dirt. For some\nintersectionalists it will require witnessing the power of the working class in\naction in order for them to draw the conclusion that the route to ending their\nspecific oppression is not as part of fragmented separate groupings but by\nthrowing their lot in with the class struggle. However, growing numbers of\nyoung people, particularly when they become active in concrete struggles, are\nalready being attracted to socialist ideas as the only way to achieve real\nliberation for all humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the search for a way to fight against discrimination and oppression, many young people in particular embrace identity politics. It can be an important first step towards the development of socialist consciousness \u2013 if it leads on to an understanding of the class nature of capitalist society and need for united, mass struggle.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119,"parent":66,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-108","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"_hostinger_reach_plugin_has_subscription_block":false,"_hostinger_reach_plugin_is_elementor":false,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions\/874"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}