Continuing our perspectives series: The period ahead is one of increasing political polarization among the masses and the ruling class. The most obvious result has been the surge of the right, as exemplified by Trump’s return to the White House. While liberals and reformists attempt to paper over this growing divide, revolutionaries should embrace it.
The US Civil War was a major influence on the development of Marxism. For Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the war against chattel slavery was an important phase in the global struggle against human bondage. Their commentary on the war is compiled in The Civil War in the United States, an essential volume for those seeking a Marxist understanding of the most pivotal conflict in US history, as well as the relationship between oppression and labor.
Proponents of the labor-aristocracy thesis argue that there is a layer of highly paid workers in the US who are bribed by the super-profits of imperialism. This logical fallacy conflates better-off workers with the very real problem of the labor bureaucracy, distorts the exploitation of the entire working class, and leads to fundamental errors in organization.
Too often morality is the only guide to politics on the left. Oppression and exploitation are obviously disgusting — however, overcoming them takes analysis and strategy, not just outrage. One example of this is the widespread dismissal of workers in the United States...