Hey all,
I’m currently developing a Marxist-Leninist analysis of settler colonialism, especially in light of the situation in Palestine, and am going to read Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat by J. Sakai for the first time. Before I do I was just curious what other comrades think of the book and its analysis? It seems a pretty controversial text among many online Marxist groups, to whatever extent that matters, but as an Indigenous communist I feel having a clear and principled stance on the settler question is important for all serious communists. I’m not sure if I’ll agree with Sakai specifically, but since I generally agree with the opinions of y’all, I was curious as to your thoughts on the book.
The USSR ultimately failed, yes. This doesn’t mean their contributions were worthless, but it does mean we should be generous with our criticisms and that we shouldn’t hold them up as a model to copy step-by-step. We should do the same with movements that achieved far less than the USSR, too.
Yes and we can and should compare movements of some classes compared to others. The settler class has proven itself incapable of resisting opportunism. MLs in the core need to focus on the classes with revolutionary outlook. Far too many do zero study of the conditions here.
Class is not an immutable characteristic. It’s determined by material conditions, and consciousness of one’s class is a function of that and the ideas they’re exposed to.
The settler class is no different. If the proletariat class can grow and proletarian consciousness can be developed, the settler class can shrink and settler consciousness can be destroyed.
Settler class only leaves when settler colonialism does. Decolonization takes a long time so settlers will remain. Like in SA the settlers can hand over state power and remain settlers while keeping their stolen property. We won’t make that same mistake and tbh that mistake only happened because the US exists, for our turn it won’t.
The settler identity is clearly less mutable than property relation to production. One does not simply change nationality, nor their “race”.
In colonialism there are oppressed and oppressor nations. Whether ruling or working within the nation a colonized worker remains lower than the colonizer worker and same with owner. I doubt you’d venture to say an “Israeli” worker is the same as a Palestinian worker. It’s the same here, the foundation of the US of A is settler colonialism and that has not been changed. The contradiction between colonized and colonizer can only be solved by a war of national liberation.