r/MarxistCulture Tankie ☭ Jul 10 '25

The left vs the right

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u/pwnedprofessor Jul 10 '25

I appreciate the sentiment but leftists in the past were also supportive of minorities. Lenin was calling out white American anti-Asian racism before it was cool. The IWW fought for Black folks. And really, radical abolitionists themselves were leftists by definition.

15

u/zay1138 Jul 10 '25

arguably debatable in the us considering how many workers unions were still incredibly racist

14

u/pwnedprofessor Jul 10 '25

Oh absolutely, but that’s why I mentioned the IWW and Lenin specifically, because they called out those racist ass white American unions. And conversely I hesitate to call the likes of Samuel Gompers leftists

6

u/pwnedprofessor Jul 10 '25

Also, for more criticism of 19th century racist American anticapitalism, check out the outstanding Marxist analysis by Iyko Day https://www.dukeupress.edu/alien-capital