Identity politics

Identity politics, often abbreviated to idpol, is a term for several approaches to politics that prioritize subjective identities like race, sex, and gender. In its strong form, identity politics prioritizes the common experiences of subjective groups over a broad coalition based on shared class interests or beliefs. Some forms of Maoism–Third Worldism, such as that of the anonymous work Settlers, even argue that identity is more important or more legitimate than shared class interests, replacing Marxism with a racial or sexuality-based political program. The critics of identity politics are manifold and include rightists and leftists alike; leftist critiques include a perceived political divisiveness, lack of class-based critique, and idealist or liberal character.

History

Precursors

Non-class identity has always had a role in Marxist analysis. Karl Marx himself never claimed that class was the only basis of oppression or that it was the sole lever of achieving social progress, and in fact consistently maintained that opposing Polish oppression, Irish oppression, American slavery, and other struggles was directly linked to the fight of the working class:

The English bourgeoisie has not only exploited the Irish misery to keep down the working class in England by forced immigration of poor Irishmen, it has also divided the proletariat into two hostile camps.... in all the big industrial centres in England, there is a profound antagonism between the Irish and English proletarians. The average English worker hates the Irish worker as a competitor who lowers wages and the standard of life. He feels national and religious antipathies for him.

He regards him practically in the same way the the poor whites in the southern states of North America regard the black slaves. This antagonism between the proletarians in England is artificially nourished and kept alive by the bourgeoisie. It knows that this split is the true secret of maintaining its power.

— Karl Marx, Letter to Kugelmann, March 28, 1870

In the 1930s, the Communist Party USA adamantly supported self-determination for American Blacks in order to mutually achieve the common interests of Black and White workers alike. Marxist feminism is also an integral part of Marxist thought which is inseparable from the original works of Marx and Engels.

1970s

The earliest known use of the term 'identity politics' dates back to a statement made by the lesbian black feminist group Combahee River Collective in 1977 which claimed that; "...the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else's oppression". In simple terms, it is a form of political thought which focuses on individual experiences of persecution and suffering with the aim of illustrating the entirety of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. against individuals that may be lost in the broader movement of left wing action. However, this hyperfocus on individual experiences and the often accusatory tone of this kind of politics has troubling implications for the sustainability of a broad or class-based political movement. Combahee River Collective member Barbara Smith has claimed that modern identity politics has distorted the original intent of the term.

Political correctness

Main article: Political correctness

Bernie Sanders's 2016 campaign

Main article: Bernie Sanders

Discussion

Class vs. identity

Among leftists who oppose identity politics, identity politics is seen as a tendency to disregard the role of class struggle in praxis and rhetoric. The concept of class is replaced with ideas about oppression based on social factors like race, gender, or sexuality, making left wing activism essentially toothless in fighting the ruling classes. In addition to diverting the attention of the left away from economic justice, identity politics also arguably leads to schisms in the working class which arguably hampers the solidarity and class consciousness of the workers. Critics would claim that that identitarianism divides people by arbitrary traits and focuses them on dominating one another instead of their collective oppression by the ruling class. This difficulty and division can take many forms at different levels of organisation.

Anti-idpol leftists argue that the difference here is that whatever differences exist between "identity" groups are arbitrary and mostly orthogonal to the way capitalism functions. Identitarian strife could exist in basically any form: all that really matters to capitalism is that there is some kind of division to keep proles fighting each other. class, on the other hand, is a material relationship that exists as a necessary part of capitalism (even if you had "market socialism" i.e. classless capitalism, a capitalist class would probably re-emerge). Worker vs owner is not identity politics because, while there are identities attached to these roles, the roles constitute the mode of production itself, rather than mere variations within those roles that you see, as between 1st and 3rd world workers (for example).

Leftists who reject identity politics may refer to themselves as "anti-idpol", or may be labelled "class reductionists" by their opponents.

Types of identity politics

Right-wing

European imperialism could be called identity politics at a global scale. European colonisers imposed their cultural identity on much of the world.

Ethno-nationalist movements could be defined as identity politics at a national level. Ethno-nationalists propagate theories on class collaboration within the "proletarian nations". The United States and many other countries divide the proletariat racially and turn worker against worker over differential treatment originating in hegemony based conflicts. In addition, nationality itself could be regarded as a form of arbitrarily imposed identity which is used to divide the working class globally, though this analysis far predates the term 'identity politics'.

There is a historical precedent of ethno-nationalists working together despite their apparently contradictory claims. Marcus Garvey, prominent black ultranationalist and businessman is quoted as saying “I regard the Klan, the Anglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together.” The Nation of Islam has also worked with the Ku Klux Klan and infamously held joint meetings with the American Nazi Party.

Left-wing

Contemporary liberal feminism is often considered to be a form of identity politics, as are many conceptions of minority rights advocacy, much of the LGBT movement, and even certain liberal efforts to tackle "classism", which views the working class more as an identity whose unique culture should not be denigrated, than as a group which should be abolished as a distinct identity along with the existence of class as a whole.

Further reading

• The Ideology of Victimization Feral Faun (archived)
• Against Identity Politics, Lupus Dragonowl
• Against Anarcho-Liberalism and the curse of identity politics, Woke Anarchists Collective
• Feminism as Fascism, Bob Black
• Exiting the Vampire Castle, Mark Fisher