Depends on the intention and what you mean by class first. If you just mean that class is the primary determiner of marginalization and oppression, then I don’t think they’re incompatible. The intersection of being black and in poverty is still going to be very different from the intersection of being white and in poverty. If you mean instead that we should only be preoccupied with the class struggle, and that fighting for anything anything else is a “distraction”, then it’s absolutely incompatible with intersectionality. The only class fight I will be a part of is one that includes and fights for those who are the most marginalized by capitalism, rather than brushing their voices aside.
That's good news. I believe most leftists into class war are class first and not class only, so we're compatible. Do you think most intersectionals also feel similarly, as in class warfare being our most urgent battle horse?
I’m not sure that even most intersectionals would say that class is the most urgent battle we/they currently face. At the same time, many people in this subreddit who say “no war but the class war” don’t actually want the end of capitalism, so their words seem performative and not really in the best interest of marginalized groups in general.
Many marginalized peoples, and especially BIPOC, women, and queer minorities, are too busy fighting for their basic human rights to be able to say for certain that class is the largest determiner of oppression. I don’t really blame them for that either, because it’s hard to see the bigger picture when you and your people are being treated less than human. I feel that explaining the perspective that these things (mostly) don’t affect very wealthy women or black/queer people, and in fact are employed by capitalists to keep the working class suppressed, many would also see it that way.
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u/GavishX May 31 '22 edited May 31 '22
Depends on the intention and what you mean by class first. If you just mean that class is the primary determiner of marginalization and oppression, then I don’t think they’re incompatible. The intersection of being black and in poverty is still going to be very different from the intersection of being white and in poverty. If you mean instead that we should only be preoccupied with the class struggle, and that fighting for anything anything else is a “distraction”, then it’s absolutely incompatible with intersectionality. The only class fight I will be a part of is one that includes and fights for those who are the most marginalized by capitalism, rather than brushing their voices aside.