The author is the PSL’s vice presidential candidate. To find out more about the La Riva/Puryear campaign, click here.
One of the biggest questions of this presidential election has been, “Will white people vote for a Black president?” Barack Obama has shown that he could get large numbers of white voters to support him, but would it be enough? Obama’s inability to win states in the Democratic primary like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where white workers have been hard hit by economic devastation, added fuel to the fire of this burning question.
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What changed the political equation in just a few short weeks?
It would be hard to overstate the influence of the financial crisis on this major shift. Despite the severe limitations of their concessions, the Democrats are still perceived by most workers as the party that will cut them a better deal. Faced with the harsh realities of unemployment, foreclosures and evictions, rising prices, and declining incomes, many white workers overcame their own racism to shift their support to Obama.
Apprehension about Obama’s race, religion, ties to radical Blacks—and whites—largely fell by the wayside as concerns over the economy became paramount. When the economy took a turn for the worse, Obama began rising in the polls. A recent Washington Post-ABC poll placed him 10 points ahead of McCain, one of the rare times Obama has managed to open up a double-digit lead.
Obama, although aiming his rhetoric at the rich, became a more attractive option to workers as the economic crisis developed. McCain may mouth the words, but even white workers infected with deep-rooted racism are hesitant to place their chips on a Republican to come to their rescue as the economy tanks.
Being determines consciousness
As Marx said, “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.” In the epoch of capitalism, racism is perhaps the most useful ideological instruments in the hands of the capitalist ruling class.
Racism, a ruling class ideology, permeates history books and flows down from the ivory towers of government offices and media outlets. To the delight of the rich, it continues to be the biggest obstacle to working-class solidarity in the United States. Time and again, the inability of white workers to ally with their Black counterparts has sabotaged progressive movements. In many cases, white workers themselves act as the gatekeepers for racist ideology, openly fighting against the rights of Blacks.
A key tenet of Marxism is that “being determines consciousness.” That is, ideas are not static abstractions that spring from the depths of our minds; they are dynamic and determined by the material world that surrounds us. As material conditions change, consciousness does too.
The capitalist class actively promotes racism to divide the working class, achieving a fair degree of success in times of relative social stability. But when crises hit, material realities such as growing joblessness, hunger, and poverty push workers toward overcoming backward, divisive ideologies that only weaken our class to the benefit of the rich.
The crushing impact of the economic collapse on the working class demands unity between workers of all nationalities. As white workers politically awaken, they will see they have more in common with their Black and Brown co-workers rather than the white bosses and bankers who oppress them. The recent shift in support of Obama among growing numbers of white workers is one sign that the legacy of apartheid and divide-and-conquer tactics can be overcome.
This does not mean that every white worker who votes for Obama has made a decisive break with racism, but the shift reaffirms that the consciousness of workers can and does change. It is a rather remarkable turn of events for the United States, a country with long history of racism. Racism, like sexism, homophobia and other bigoted divisions, is not everlasting. It can quickly crumble in response to changing realities.
Whether an Obama presidency would meet workers’ expectations is an entirely different question. Obama is a committed representative of the capitalist class, and any pro-worker reforms he might enact will be dictated by the degree of militancy of the masses. Should an Obama presidency come to be and should the economic crisis deepen—neither of them far-fetched possibilities—then the failure of a Democratic White House to bring relief to the working class could lay the foundation for even deeper, widespread change in consciousness for all workers.
The progressive movement is now faced with a challenge. A protracted economic crisis, with all of its political ramifications, would greatly sharpen class divisions. Those who spew their hatred against Blacks and immigrants will seek to dull class divisions by courting white workers with their own racist explanations for the economic mayhem. It is indispensable that progressive and revolutionary forces intensify their work against racism and for class solidarity so that a united, fighting movement of the working class may be forged in the period ahead.
