I’m not a Marxist, much less a Marxist–Leninist or Trotskyist, but the International Bolshevik Tendency published a good piece about the problems with “woke liberalism” without attacking women, black people, Latinos, queer and trans people, immigrants, or anyone else who finds himself on the wrong side of discrimination in American society.
It’s refreshing to see, especially when so many on the left go too far in the woke direction (trying to make their case using abstruse critical theory that almost nobody understands) or in the reactionary anti-woke direction (sounding like far-right conservatives as soon as gender and sexuality come into play). If you are a homophobe, misogynist, or transphobe, stop calling yourself a fucking leftist. Patriarchy—and admit it, all sexism arises from patriarchal thinking—is not a leftist value, since it imposes hierarchical thinking when we should promote equality. I know some Marxists are wary of feminism, since it looks like “identity politics,” but I think it’s common decency to treat women as though they were complex human beings, rather than baby factories. Egalitarianism encompasses feminism.
There is no such thing as an antifeminist leftist. Not in 2023, anyway.
Leave a Reply