One of the most important talking points I took away from the CPUSA national conference this past weekend was the need to build relationships before outwardly trying to organize people into direct action. This is something that I have personally struggled with in the region where I live which is largely conservative, and even those who subscribe to a more liberal mindset take away misleading facets of ideology from mainstream liberal mouthpieces.
Without getting into minute specifics of worldviews, the most pervasive that I face is that of rugged individualism, or pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps.
Indeed, the reality we live in proves this to be false. No one person is successful on his/her own merits. Even people who purport this train of thought to be true, in lesser-populated areas like mine, especially, will borrow something of their neighbor’s to get a job done; they will barter services in lieu of paying cash for household, vehicle, or farm equipment repairs. They form close friendships with neighbors and help each other with the tasks of raising children. Yet, this myth persists that all was attained by their own hands.
For reasons that the ruling class has successfully embedded within the structure, it is much more desirable to claim success by “going it alone” when that is never the case. We are social, interdependent beings. This is not a popular concept to admit to.
I do not need to go on about all of this—people who struggle to organize and raise consciousness are well aware of these things. However, we are not free from the pull of these thoughts; it is in the culture which we live and breathe—which is us, essentially—it is broadcast to us in a myriad of ways. It is in our language.
When it comes to understanding people, many of us will try to relate our own experiences to another’s to try to find some common ground. While this is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, it can sometimes lead to discounting another’s own personal struggles in an attempt to “hook” them for whatever cause we may be promoting.
For instance, is it possible for me, a person who has benefited from the color of my skin in many life experiences, to truly understand what a person of color has been through in trying to remain gainfully employed or accepted by white majorities? Likewise, is it just of a white male to tell me that he understands that women are still a marginalized group while going on to use sexist language against members of his own gender who display more “feminine” qualities?
These common uses of language left unexamined actually work against us when we are trying to organize. They are essentially stereotypes which prevent us from forming a more unified front.
To try to illustrate this point, I will use an anecdote from my own experience. While conferencing with a group of like-minded people discussing ways in which to organize, this question came up: “How do we attract more women into our groups?” Another participant answered, “Perhaps we should offer a free pair of shoes to each new female member.” Instantly appalled, and with a continuing barrage of laughs coming from the other male participants, I snapped back about how sexist that sort of comment is. Because of my frustration with this, I failed in not breaking down the specifics of why such a thing is uncalled for and how it is ultimately divisive, driving away the population they wish to recruit more of.
Unfortunately, the education of the more privileged of our society often rests on those who are oppressed and/or discriminated against by those same members.
First of all, such a stereotype is plain silly. I know many males who are much more of the “clotheshorse” than myself or many of my female friends.
Second, someone who claims radical politics should always be open to dialectic and study without relying on tired cliches to garner support from people who are already involved with their organization. What is to be examined here? How about the fact that women, as a class, have been targeted not only as objectified commodities themselves, but also as the class who should not worry their little heads beyond shopping and consuming products specifically aimed at them.
The irony of attitudes such as these is that while the people who continue to brush them off and treat them as mere jokes are essentially saying to women that hey, it’s okay for you to leave your own habits unexamined in purchasing these trifles that I am going to mock you for anyway.
If one is preaching the fact that one would like to see more of this or that group involved without giving an honest look into how one uses the accepted vernacular, then no amount of recruitment will be fruitful. It is certainly not acceptable to lump different socially constructed races with preferences for consumables—why would it be okay to do that with another group?
What is important to recognize in building solidarity is the limits of our own thought. This is not a new concept, and it certainly shouldn’t be shied away from just because we might find new insights into ourselves that may be uncomfortable. This sort of introspection can help us rid ourselves of the imposed shame larger society perpetuates and take a more honest look at what we are facing. Again, it is a task that we must face together.
All of these different structures, these modes of thought encouraged by institutions that uphold the status quo, are alienating and create prisons of the mind. None of us are exempt from this, and quite frankly, we only hold blame when we ignore these facts and refuse to look further down the rabbit hole than we already have. This is not to say that I believe that comrades I interact with are largely ignorant of these things, but that we should keep them in mind when we personally interact with people while building relationships. How do we repeat these structures in interpersonal communications with others? The links I have included provide insights into these problems, but it is up to us to develop reflexive thought processes that take into account the ways in which we inadvertently build barriers that prevent us from attaining solidarity.
