Feminism, racism and communism

Of course there's white privilege. And of course there's male privilege.

But I think Womanist is not digging deep enough: Why is there white privilege? Why is there male privilege?

Is it simply because white people are inherently racist (and men inherently sexist)? Is it simply because there are more white people than non-white? I say both explanations are false, and therefore attempting to eliminating/extending specifically white and specifically male privilege will fail; even if it were to succeed, we would not achieve justice, we would simply distribute the injustice differently.

The reformist program of the "liberal" bourgeoisie is not to eliminate economic and social injustice, it is to ensure that injustice is not arbitrarily imposed by race or gender. Oppression and exploitation are not inherently wrong, it is wrong only to oppress non-white people because they are not white, and women because they are women.

The reformist program will fail because given the necessity of exploitation under capitalism, there will always be some easily identified group of people who will be pushed down simply because they are easily identified. This tactic serves two purposes: First, it makes some group of people directly ripe for hyper-exploitation. Second, it distracts the rest of the ruled-class from their own oppression: "Sit down and shut up, cracker. Things could be worse: You could be black."

But reformist program can liberate only a tiny fraction of women and non-white people; the bourgeoisie can be only a fraction of the population. The vast majority of people will still be crushed by the capitalist, imperialist system. I suppose it will be a comfort to a working class black woman to know she's being crushed because she's poor, not because she's black or a woman, but she'll still be crushed.

And the bourgeoisie is perfectly OK with the vast majority of people being crushed by the system, just so long as their own economic privilege is maintained.

I say that feminism and anti-racism are absolutely necessary and central to communism and socialism. But I also say that communism and socialism are also absolutely necessary and central to feminism and anti-racism.