Settlers: "Americans are not proletarian because of their imperial privilege from colonial policing"
RT "journalist" hackfraud: "actually the cops and vets at The Trump capitol riot are our allies, white supremacy isn't real!!! These home owning boomers who supported genocidal imperialism their entire life are suffering a lot when they file for bankruptcy to liquidate their assets"
imagine being rich and privileged enough to be able to file for bankruptcy, I wish I was part of the American working class!
It's very weird to me to hear self-proclaimed marxists say that people who need to sell their labor in order to survive are not part of the proletariat.
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For me, Gramsci's cultural hegemony answers that question of 'why do people act against their own material interests' / 'why do people not grow conscious of their material interests on a systemic level' just fine though
But that's not a permanent, intrinsic characteristic of that ethnic group, just like Hindu nationalism isn't a permanent interistic characteristic of Indians. It is a reflection of the fact that the right is materially better organised than we are. But even in that context, the (white) inhabitants of America are in favor of a lot of progressive positions (as an example: check the historical opinion polls on the occupation of Iraq ) because deep down, people remain part of a certain class, and oppose things that are fundamentally opposed to their class interests, even when propaganda manages to make them vote against their own interests.
By the way: black Americans are more opposed to gay marriage than white Americans, but I will vehemently oppose anyone who concludes from statistics like those that "black people are more reactionary than white people", because again, this has to do with propaganda and (like u/Budwig_v1337hoven already mentioned in another comment) with hegemony.
Marxists are against essentialising people on the basis of irrelevant characteristics such as the color of their skin, their nationality and so forth. We are in favor of the unity of the working class, and we struggle against people who want to divide us up. Don't aid our enemies.