‘I am not a nigger—I am a man.’

 

The objective of the Socialist Party is to free white brown and black workers from wage-slavery and to end the evils of capitalism. The root cause of modern racial prejudice is the capitalist system, a society of competition and struggle: struggle between worker and worker. For the working-class, it is a society which breeds division and strife. Capitalism is a system of competition rather than co-operation.  The Socialist Party is angry and indignant about the sorts of lives we are forced to endure, about bad housing. unemployment, old people dying of cold in winter, and all the other depressing features of poverty — but we don't place the blame on other workers — whites, or blacks, because that only hurts ourselves. It suits the capitalist class that the anger is directed away from them, and divertd from the real cause of the problems. What really worries the ruling class is when members of the working class get together, when they organise an efficient democratic political movement with the single aim of throwing them out, and they fear when that movement seems to start to attract support. So long as racism among different groups, is providing each race with a scapegoat to blame and averting any approach to the real problem, the ruling class can enjoy the benefits of working-class disunity.

Race and immigration serve a double purpose for capitalism. First, they can be used as straight-forward vote winners for the politicians. By trading on the prejudices that capitalism and its politicians have themselves instilled into the working class the politician hopes to suck in the votes of irrationality. Second, the race issue has at least one important function — it provides a "easy answer" to the difficulties of capitalism and so turns attention away from the problem. The result is that instead of the real issue, Socialism or capitalism, confronting the electorate at election time, the issue of race is thrown up. While the workers are busy blaming each other for their problems (the whites blame the blacks, the blacks the pakistanis, the hindus, the muslims etc, etc.) instead of seeking the real causes, capitalism continues in safety.

Any attempt to rationalize racist attitudes, or to surround them with an aura of scientific justification, is ludicrous. All human beings are genetically similar, and what variations there are exist within every group and in no way lend support to ideas of innate superiority or inferiority.  All humans belong to one species: we have the same blood, and we can interbreed to produce offspring. Those who have tried to divide the species into races, based on inherited physical features, have disagreed about how many races there are. But their scientific investigations have shown that there are no “pure” races. 

The Socialist Party condemns racist ideas. We find such attitudes pernicious and repugnant, Racists are invariably ignorant and irrational. They seek only the most crude and superficial explanation of social problems. They need a whipping-boy, a scapegoat. The Jew to blame for money grabbing and financial swindling. The black man to blame for housing squalor or unemployment. If they can find in the immigrant a convenient outlet upon whom to vent their frustrations and resentments, they need look no further. The way to defeat racism is not to fight the white supremacists on the streets, as some on the Left would like us to do. You cannot clear up confused ideas by fighting confused people. The lies of racism must be constantly exposed. Old ideas must be challenged by new realities. The only way to get rid of racism is to get rid of the out-dated social system which keeps producing it. 

The Socialist Party call on all men and women of the working class, whether they are black, white, brown or yellow, whether they are employed or unemployed, old or young, to join us in a growing political movement to end this violent, poverty-stricken way of organising society. It is ours for the taking as soon as we make up our minds to act all together. Workers of every colour and country can unite to establish a society where production will be for the needs of all, not for the profit of a few. Racism divides the working class; socialism will unite the human race. The Socialist Party advocates a world where the whole of humanity is united about social relationships of equality and co-operation. The identity of the socialist is not with any national grouping, brand of religion, any alleged ‘race’ or ethnic culture. The Socialist Party has gone beyond the shallow allegiances that misdirect the attitudes of those who are still burdened by nationalism, religion or racism. The Socialist Party has no hesitation in taking a stand. We condemn racism. To us it is repugnant. We are opposed to any attitude that discourages the unity of the working class. Even so, our disgust is extended by an understanding of the problem. Disgust without knowledge is impotent. The racists are not inherently evil people. They are men and women who are moved by fear, insecurity, frustration and ignorance, all of which are attitudes conditioned by social forces. They possess a history of struggle and insecurity. They are on the defensive, they are anxious to protect jobs, a standard of living, a standard of housing, that they feel has been hard won. Now they feel hard done by. Mere condemnation will not help them. Workers who don't understand why capitalism condemns them to impoverished lives are all too ready to blame their problems onto other workers, from other towns or from other countries or of other "races".