Working with people that have no clue about marxism or even who, on some point, have some different views is not necessarily a bad thing. Your average factoryworker may not be all that interested in, for example, trans rights or fighting patriarchy. But that does not mean they should not be in our party.
However, if you actively work against the rights of minorities you should not be a part of the movement. I think you need to have a pretty solid base line that you won’t cross. Otherwise we would just betray the LGBTQI+, non-white and other minority groups fighting on the marxist side. Nor should they accept that.
If my party would declare support to some homophobic group because they want another ally, my fellow comrades and I would hopefully rise up to protest it. And what would be next? Adapting liberal ideologies because we want to appeal to liberals? No, we don’t do that as well.
It’s one thing to have some backwards views because you are misinformed, but to actively work against the interests of minorities is not marxist at all and should not be accepted. It’s a tough challenge to persuade other people for our cause when they have backwards views, but through education, action and other forms of outreach it’s certainly possible. I’ve seen it happen myself.
I understand what you’re saying and the way that you and your party feel about these matters is the same way that I feel. However, I’m willing to bet that you’re speaking from the position of someone in a liberal Western country where society is not so reactionary/bigoted. In Russia and other countries, this kind of bigotry is a lot more normalised and also backed up fully by both state and private media, such that many in Russia consider the notion of “LGBT propaganda” to be factual.
Like imagine if you wanted to run a Marxist party in Saudi Arabia; assuming it wouldn’t be outlawed immediately you’d have to go up against the entirety of Islamic culture regarding things like homophobia and patriarchy and I can’t help but feel like if you rail against these ideas on Day One you’ll probably never gain much ground, if any.
What I’m saying is that it might be possible or even easy to educate and not tolerate reaction in countries with a weaker reactionary base among the proletariat, but in societies where reaction and bigotry are simply the norm and have been for centuries now then is it not universalist abstraction to say that Marxists in these societies should expect the same success as Marxists in your society?
Working with people that have no clue about marxism or even who, on some point, have some different views is not necessarily a bad thing. Your average factoryworker may not be all that interested in, for example, trans rights or fighting patriarchy. But that does not mean they should not be in our party.
However, if you actively work against the rights of minorities you should not be a part of the movement. I think you need to have a pretty solid base line that you won’t cross. Otherwise we would just betray the LGBTQI+, non-white and other minority groups fighting on the marxist side. Nor should they accept that.
If my party would declare support to some homophobic group because they want another ally, my fellow comrades and I would hopefully rise up to protest it. And what would be next? Adapting liberal ideologies because we want to appeal to liberals? No, we don’t do that as well.
It’s one thing to have some backwards views because you are misinformed, but to actively work against the interests of minorities is not marxist at all and should not be accepted. It’s a tough challenge to persuade other people for our cause when they have backwards views, but through education, action and other forms of outreach it’s certainly possible. I’ve seen it happen myself.
I understand what you’re saying and the way that you and your party feel about these matters is the same way that I feel. However, I’m willing to bet that you’re speaking from the position of someone in a liberal Western country where society is not so reactionary/bigoted. In Russia and other countries, this kind of bigotry is a lot more normalised and also backed up fully by both state and private media, such that many in Russia consider the notion of “LGBT propaganda” to be factual.
Like imagine if you wanted to run a Marxist party in Saudi Arabia; assuming it wouldn’t be outlawed immediately you’d have to go up against the entirety of Islamic culture regarding things like homophobia and patriarchy and I can’t help but feel like if you rail against these ideas on Day One you’ll probably never gain much ground, if any.
What I’m saying is that it might be possible or even easy to educate and not tolerate reaction in countries with a weaker reactionary base among the proletariat, but in societies where reaction and bigotry are simply the norm and have been for centuries now then is it not universalist abstraction to say that Marxists in these societies should expect the same success as Marxists in your society?
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