Ireland: In Defence of People Before Profit's Comprehensive Marxist Approach to Oppression

A Comment on the Resignation of The Red Network

The struggle against all forms of oppression is not a distraction from class war, but an essential part of it.

The Red Network's statement, "Why The Red Network Has Left People Before Profit," contrasts "class war" with "culture war," arguing that focusing on social issues ("student moralism," "performative politics," "moralising") is divisive and ineffective. That strategic conception is key to its political difference with PBP. The Red Network's statement makes other points about PBP, some concerning. If those were resolved, its political differences would still justify the network’s separation. This position reflects a narrow focus that is challenged by a comprehensive Marxist approach, which argues that the fight against various forms of oppression is not separate from or secondary to the class struggle, but is in fact an integral and necessary component of it [Thanks to a post about the departure by The Cedar Lounge Revolution, we can recommend you read the Irish Independent’s interview with Dublin councillor Madeleine Johansson, who is part of the Network].

Capitalism does not merely involve class exploitation; it actively utilises and reinforces various forms of oppression. Oppressions based on race, gender, sexuality, and caste are not accidental but are deeply embedded within capitalist social relations and are actively reproduced by the system. As Arya Meroni notes, capitalist society possesses an entire economic, ideological, political, and cultural apparatus to maintain its power, and building a new class consciousness necessitates integrating and respecting all sectors and struggles of the working class.

Capitalism Thrives on All Oppressions

The ruling class benefits significantly from these divisions, employing them to suppress wages, weaken collective power, and pit segments of the working class against each other. Historically and currently, the ruling class uses strategies to divide the working class along lines such as race, gender, ethnicity, language, and religion. To ignore or downplay the fight against these oppressions, as the Red Network's "class war not culture war" framing tends to do, is to misunderstand how capitalism functions and inadvertently aids the oppressors by leaving the working class divided.

Furthermore, oppression can occur within the working class itself. This manifests as racism, sexism, LGBTQI+phobia, and other prejudices. A powerful, united working-class movement cannot be built by ignoring or attempting to bypass these internal divisions. Instead, it must actively confront and combat these prejudices, standing as the "tribune of the people" that fights against all forms of tyranny and outrage, not just economic ones. As Lenin argued in relation to economism, any and every manifestation of police tyranny and autocratic outrage is a means to draw the masses into the political struggle. True solidarity is built by fighting all oppressions as part of the common struggle against the system that produces them.

Autonomous Struggles Strengthen the Movement

The self-organisation of oppressed groups – such as feminist, anti-racist, and LGBTQI+ movements – is not a deviation from unity or mere "moralism," but a vital step towards building a broader, more effective movement. These autonomous movements often arise in response to the limitations and biases within broader movements, including those on the left, which may fail to address specific experiences of oppression adequately. They are crucial for developing analyses specific to particular oppressions, building solidarity among those directly affected, and challenging ingrained prejudices within the working class itself. Dismissing these struggles as "student moralism" risks alienating working-class people who experience these oppressions daily and prevents the building of the comprehensive movement needed to challenge the interlocking systems of oppression and their material roots within capitalist social relations. At its best, the slogan "the personal is political" highlighted the need to understand individual experiences of oppression as rooted in broader social, economic, cultural, and political structures, aiming to politicise personal problems and foster collective action, not merely individual lifestyle choices.

Integrating Liberation into the Class Struggle

A comprehensive Marxist approach integrates the fight against specific oppressions into a comprehensive struggle against the capitalist system. Concepts like "Feminism for the 99%" exemplify this synthesis, aiming for a class-based feminist movement that understands the interconnectedness of gender, race, and economic exploitation. This framework explicitly rejects the idea that fighting oppression is separate from the fight for socialism. It seeks to forge a truly revolutionary force capable of achieving the liberation of all by focusing on the shared struggle against the interlocking systems of oppression and their material roots within capitalist social relations.

The Red Network's critique suggests that class struggle will automatically pull in those who disagree on social issues, an approach sadly disproven by the experience of the last several decades. While common struggle can build solidarity and challenge prejudices, relying solely on this without actively combating oppressive ideas within the class is insufficient and ignores the depth of these divisions that capitalism actively reinforces (not the least, including the division of the north of Ireland). The task is to actively link anti-oppression struggles to the class struggle, not to wait for the latter to somehow resolve the former.

Rethinking Strategy and PBP's Approach

In passing, the Red Network's statement makes two notable choices in its critique of People Before Profit (PBP).

1. Firstly, it seems to frame PBP as if it is attempting and failing to be a specific type of revolutionary vanguard party (perhaps Leninist), highlighting perceived failures in leadership development, political education, and adherence to a strict programmatic line. In practice, PBP operates more as a broad anticapitalist party, aiming to unite diverse political trends. Critiquing it based on criteria it may not set for itself is arguably an uncharitable interpretation.

2. Secondly, the statement claims that PBP doesn't have a "party programme" and that its demands are merely expressions of current struggles. Yet, the PBP manifesto outlines a vision for a "32-county eco-socialist republic" and details a range of specific policies across various areas like housing, healthcare, environment, and anti-racism. While not necessarily presented in the traditional "minimum/maximum" format critiqued by the Red Network, this document clearly contains elements of a programme, outlining both immediate demands and a broader societal goal. This suggests a difference in interpretation of what constitutes a "programme" and the strategic function of a party like PBP compared to the Red Network's specific criteria.

Ultimately, a comprehensive Marxist approach argues that the fight against oppression is not a sideline but an essential front in the class war. A genuinely revolutionary force capable of achieving the liberation of all must integrate the struggles against specific oppressions into a comprehensive struggle against the capitalist system that thrives on division. Dismissing the fight against oppression as mere "culture war" plays into the hands of the very system the Red Network seeks to overthrow.

Further Reading

The following articles are highly recommended for exploring the ideas discussed in this response.

On the Marxist understanding of oppression and its relationship to the class struggle

• "Marxist Left Review | Against reductionism: Marxism and oppression": This article directly engages with the debate between class reductionism and an integrated approach that sees class and oppression as economically and politically intertwined under capitalism.

• "Marxism and the oppression of trans people": This piece explores the Marxist perspective on a specific form of oppression, arguing against the idea that struggles for trans rights are separate from or secondary to class struggle and highlighting the importance of strategic thinking about inclusivity.

• "“Feminists are currently leading the way”": An interview discussing the recent wave of feminist mobilisation, the concept of "Feminism for the 99%", and the importance of acknowledging and integrating the diverse experiences of oppression within the working class.

• "The personal and the political": This article provides historical context for the slogan "the personal is political," explaining how it emerged from the experiences of women in social movements and contributed to the self-organisation of oppressed groups.

• "The Politics of Some Bodies": This review discusses a book that interweaves Marxism, feminism, and queer theory, critiquing both narrow identity politics and economist approaches while emphasizing the material basis of oppression and the importance of self-organisation.

• "A Marxist Critique of Post-Marxism": This essay critiques various aspects of post-Marxist thought, including its tendency to analyse gender and race inequalities outside of a class framework and its relationship to neoliberalism.

On building pluralist, broad, socialist organisations

• The Revolutionary Alternative to Workerism: Broad Politics and Integrated Struggle

• Class Organization: Pure Anti-Capitalism at its Limit (Especially useful, given The Red Network’s comments on Gramsci)

• Building the "Useful Party": An Instrument for Advancing Class Struggle (Useful for the comments on programme, but also on resisting participation in capitalist governments)

• Enduring Lessons from the IMG's Early Journey (Relevant for some of The Red Network’s useful points on organizational and democratic culture)

• Building on Le Blanc: Crucial Historical Dimensions for Contemporary Marxist Responsibility (Particularly on the centrality of the struggle for power, part of the reason why the minimum-maximum programme approach of The Reds Network is problematic)

• Class Unity, the Working-Class United Front and the Allies of the Proletariat (On working with ‘middle-class’ layers and allies of the working class)

• The Revolutionary Organisation in the Doldrums: Learning from Lutte Ouvrière (LO) and the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR)

• Beyond Nostalgia: For a Revolutionary Class Unity Against All Oppression

• Splits and fusions in left parties: lessons from the early 1980s

• Pat Jordan’s Insightful Critique of Bureaucratic Distortion (While The Reds Network addresses their wish to take differences outside PBP, Jordan’s points about the the healthy role of tendency rights internally are helpful)

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