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CPBML position on immigration seems dodgy (whiskers.bim.boats)
submitted 7 months ago by appel@whiskers.bim.boats to c/genzhou@lemmygrad.ml
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I stumbled upon the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)'s articles about immigration, and to me they have a whiff of nationalism and fascism. Links:

Their point seems to be that immigration is bad because it brings down the conditions and wages of british workers, and can be used to break strikes, for example the doctors strike. That it degrades the quality of public services like housing, healthcare etc. etc. In the description of the meeting, they say "how should we respond?"

To me this just sounds like EDL (English Defence League, rightwing nationalists) rhetoric. I feel like a better approach is to understand the part that this historically imperalist nation plays and has played, and to have sympathy with those immigrants who come here only to end up superexploited, instead of appealing to nationality and only worrying about british workers. Maybe I am being idealist? not sure.

Any thoughts? Immigration is a pretty big deal in british politics, and I would like to hear some other marxist viewpoints

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[-] davel@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 7 months ago

On first impression and without reading, this sounds like a labor aristocratic stance, more syndicalist than Maxist-Leninist.

Immigration can be and is used by the capitalists to break strikes and in general to enlarge the reserve army of labor in order to discipline domestic labor. But then imperialism abroad also does that.

My first impulse would be to invite the immigrants to the movement.

[-] appel@whiskers.bim.boats 4 points 7 months ago

agreed, they should be a crucial component of the struggle. good quote too

[-] davel@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 7 months ago

From Proletarian Revolution and the Split in the Working Class | The development of the labor aristocracy in the US:

The struggle for democratic rights amongst the foreign born, Blacks, Chicanos, women, and others who constituted the lower stratum of the working class was held back by the bankrupt, agents of the bourgeoisie, the AFL:

The 32nd Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labour, as the association of trade unions is called, has come to a close in Rochester. Alongside the rapidly growing Socialist Party, this association is a living relic of the past: of the old craft-union, liberal-bourgeois traditions that hang full-weight over America’s working-class aristocracy.

The treacherous policies of the AFL in refusing to organize the ’new immigrants’, Blacks, Chicanos, Chinese, and women opened the door for the capitalists to use these workers as strikebreakers. This further split the working class.

The development of class consciousness and the spread of Marxism was stymied by the Socialist Party. Like the AFL, it was based in the upper stratum of the proletariat. The Party was to join the Second International and put forward a line of national chauvinism and ’evolutionary socialism’ (reformism).

this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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