Working Class Unity
If we are to achieve such goals as a class society and a society based on cooperation, we will need the unity of all working and oppressed people. That means we need to recognize and overcome those divisions in our society which serve to prop up the status quo. The class in power uses such division to blind us to the fundamental class division in our society, and thus to play one group against another. Socialists believe that such fundamental social problems have economic roots that can be solved only with the framework of a new economic system. But we are also coming to see that while this is a necessary step, it is not a sufficient solution. Racism and sexism will not automatically disappear with a socialist economy but will have to be struggled against with the same determination as is necessary in the struggle against capitalism.
Through history racism has been and continues to be an integral part of our society. One needs only to compare for the unemployment rate or wage scale for African-American and other minorities to those of whites. Racism provides an excuse and a scapegoat to whites who are unwilling or unable to see that the real causes of their problems lie in the economic structure. Racism also fosters attitudes that make it easier for leaders to wage war.
Similarly, sexism has economic roots. The fact that a woman makes 74 cents for every dollar that a man makes is evidence of this. The traditional role of women in society can be explained in terms of economic dependence on men. Women’s liberation seeks to overcome the discrimination women face. It also involves a new way of looking a society – see Socialist Feminism below.
Socialists also oppose discrimination against lesbian and gay people. There is disagreement among Socialists whether this involves subscribing to a theory of gay liberation – that is fundamental way of looking at society – or whether it is a matter of civil liberties. See our Platform and Statement of Principles.
Capitalism also disadvantages older people. For a variety of reasons including mass media advertising, our culture values youth. Socialists are intergenerational in our organizing, and defend programs such as Social Security that the Socialist Party fought to establish.
Similarly, we ought to be conscious in our organizing of the needs of disabled people and oppose discrimination against them.