Midwestern Marx is not perfect
Midwestern Marx is not perfect
(Thread here: https://nitter.fdn.fr/RodericDay/status/1666063389733298176#m) They have some decent stuff, but they are also tailist patsocs. It’s probably better to just read the Black Agenda Report article than buy the book.
Nobody is perfect
True, that’s why I think the six downvotes are funny. I imagine them saying “no, MWM is perfect!”
A disappointing thread with little substantial criticism. I expected more from Roderic Day, i always enjoyed reading his essays. This just seems to boil down to accusing MWM of associating with "patsocs", ironically falling into the exact same purity fetish that the book criticizes. The national question in the US is highly complex and there is a good argument to be made that for revolutionary progress to be possible the US itself as it currently exists must be dismantled. But this is not a question of moral principles, rather one of strategic necessity, expediency and viability. Is it even possible to build a revolutionary movement on the basis of the "American" settler proletariat? Or conversely, is it even possible WITHOUT it? The answers to these questions will have to be borne out by practice and active revolutionary struggle, they won't be found in theory, essays and books.
Well I mean, we have 400 years of colonization and worker's movements already existing to study. It's beyond the point in time to notice the most effective attacks at the US state have come from indigenous and Black nations. American Communists are overwhelmingly illiterate in how the colonized nations of North America came to be subjugated by the settler state. Nobody says the American workers can't advance Decolonization, but centering the movement on their struggle is counter revolutionary while they are historically illiterate to the territories they inhabit. This is why pushing potential comrades away from decolonial voices is dangerous as Rainer and MWM are doing it.
I think there is plenty of substance in Roderic's critique. You can check out the response MWM gave and some back and forth with Roderic here (scroll up for the full thing).
As for accusing MWM of associating with patsocs, no accusations are needed as they openly do associate with patsocs. They've had multiple friendly interactions with Hinkle and Haz both on twitter and on some streams/podcasts. These have been ongoing for at least a year now, if not longer.
I don't think patsocs fall into the "purity question" at all because they are simply neither communists nor leftists of any sort.
I don’t think patsocs fall into the “purity question” at all because they are simply neither communists nor leftists of any sort.
I think you’re right about criticizing them doesn’t make you a purist, but I think at least some of them do believe in communism or leftism, though they are a severe right deviation, not understanding dialectics, material conditions or the character of nationalism.
MWM (Eddie) and Rainer Shea are crypto patsocs. They don't believe in Land Back and Black Liberation, they believe Settler Colonialism in the US is over and thus the decolonial movement doesn't apply.
They are dogmatists who refuse to do any historical research of North America, and are class reductionists (who ignore that racism and colonialism are class systems in the first place).
I've noticed a few times that decolonial points get brought up, specifically in relation to US settlers today, the comments expressing these ideas tend to get quite a few downvotes without anyone really offering a substantive critique. I find it a bit worrying but I don't know if it's some external brigading or if some of the users here hold these views.
In any case, like you said, the US is very much still a white-supremacist settler state. There is a very real material basis leading to differences in interests between racial groups in the US. This kind of divide makes it very difficult if not impossible to rely on a predominantly white working class to be a revolutionary force. There's a reason that most of the theoretical development and all the revolutionary movements in the US have been led by minorities and the conditions to change that aren't there yet. Not even close.
spoiler
I think this is a severe misrepresentation of their position. They have each expressed support for both of the things you claim they don't believe in. What they have criticized are liberal versions of those ideas, that is the misuse of those slogans to advance a neoliberal agenda under the guise of radlib language.
Speaking on Rainer: He criticizes "Liberal" positions on Land Back and Black Liberation while forming unity with Libertarians (actual Liberals) on anti-Imperialism while calling Black Agenda Report's refusal to work with that crowd "wrecker" behavior. He calls Horne and Sakai "wreckers". Centering external facing Imperialism as the primary contradiction over internal Imperialism brings you to politics such as this.
Who's to say these folks are "Liberals"? Do we just take Rainer's word for it since they call out that his dead end politics are resorting to working with white supremacists?
He shows no serious attempt to advance the decolonial movement, but like MWM is more than willing to work with open PatSocs. 🤷🏾
He's willing to work with reactionaries that are unhappy with the US Imperialism and the fact that it is taking away from working class conditions. Through this these allies are platformed as "MLs" that are Settler Nationalists, anti-Indian, anti-Black, extremely transphobic, anti-"Globalist" (🐕 😙), calling people "d*generates" and white haters. They agree with Vaush far more than any MLs.