Dear Jerry,
I rushed my last reply to this and hit the send button before completion - and of course its sounds a bit odd to say there wasn't racism within Britain before the 1950's.... I was try to bring out the local populations use of terminology and general attitudes in the face of the reality that there were''nt even smallish numbers of peoples with, broadly speaking non white characteristics resident within Britain.
There was of course anti Irish feeling which we would call racism today, and to which Marx refers in his extensive discussions of the struggle for Irish Independance. This anti Irish feeling ( the worst possible state that the working class could fall to was to be 'Irishified' according to Marx, when refering to their economic position), the usual anti immigrant feelings amongst many longer standing residents, feelings aroused by the wages and conditions that could be forced upon them by capitalists, was significant in the metropolitan districts. After them came feeling against Scots and Welsh immigrants into England and even general hostility also to Northumbrians, Cumbrians etc. All of this was however absorbed into an overall class perspective, not staying as a seperate issue as such, and only retaining its openly hostile characteristics as and when the British State waged its campaign against Irish Independence more intensely.
Excuse this ommission.
Cheers
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: gerald_a_levy <gerald_a_levy@msn.com>
To: ope-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu <ope-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu>
Date: 31 January 2002 13:22
Subject: [OPE-L:6481] Re: Marx and the bible
Paul B wrote in [6480]:
Marx was not an anti semite. He was an athiest. He objected to religions on rational grounds. His barbs against Christianity wer also in the same vein. One should be careful not to mix up the issue, it is as dangerous as confusing anti-Zionism with racism.
It is possible to be both an atheist and an anti-Semite:
individuals are often bundles of inconsistencies and
contradictions!
On Marx and anti-Semitism:
Marx to Engels 2/25/59
Marx to Antoinette Philips 3/24/61
Marx to Engels 7/30/62 (note racism also)
Marx to Engels 8/21/75
Marx to Engels 8/25/79
Marx to Jenny Longuet 4/11/81
In solidarity, Jerry
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