To put it as plainly as possible, if the proponents of the U.S. settler-colonialism theory are correct, then there is no basis whatsoever upon which to build a multinational working class communist party in this country. Indeed, such a view sees the “settler working class” as instruments of colonialism, hostile to the interests of the colonized people, rather than viewing all working and oppressed people as natural allies in the struggle against imperialism, our mutual oppressor.

A shame, a sad sad shame. For anyone that’s read settlers, or knows about the history of labor zionism, or prioritizes any kind of indigenous voice in their praxis, this is really bad. No peace for settlers! Settlers cannot lead the revolution! I hope we see an end to any respect given to this “settler colonialism is over” politic soon.

  • bubbalu [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    17 days ago

    the extraction of wealth from the imperial periphery would not be possible without the inherited wealth stolen from the indigenous people of the imperial core. the people doing the former today are the children of the people who did the latter and passed on that stolen wealth.

    I completely agree with this analysis. However I think you have shown that there is a qualitative transformation from the primitive accumulation of indigenous peoples to mature imperialism. I agree it COULD NOT have happened without settler-colonialism, but that settler-colonialism is no longer the dominant mode in most of the West—even if it is preferred as seen in the rampant plunder and subjugation you are correct to point out in West Asia.

    The argument of making a ‘socialist US’ or ‘socialist Israel’ seems to be a strawman. No theoretically consistent communist wants to ‘turn a state socialist’. Marx explains “the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made State machinery and wield it for its own purposes.” As such, real communists seek to smash the bourgeois state.

    • StalinistSteve@lemmygrad.mlOP
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      17 days ago

      I more so align with the critical view of primitive accumulation that it is a constant, unending process. There’s no end to the stealing of land, the permanent underclass status given to black people. It is merely that this is the basis for a greater American imperialism which reinforces the former, but the former is still in constant need of re-enforcing in order to maintain the American state. If we’re talking about building a revolution in America, I don’t see a point to saying imperialism is the principle contradiction instead of settler-colonialism. A system such as capitalism is inseparable from the colonial conditions which it was borne of (as the Red Nation calls Capitalist-Colonialism), and capitalism will always expand into imperialism if able to. If we want to stop American imperialism, both are mutually reinforcing and need to be fought. The idea that settler-colonialism needs to be put on the back burner or isn’t a major factor in our conditions and contradictions seems to be something only people who have a personal interest in maintaining it (white) feel a need to say.