INTERSECTIONAL CLASS STRUGGLE: THEORY AND PRACTICE

This innovative study, explores the relevance of class as a theoretical category in our world today, arguing that leading traditions of class analysis have missed major elements of what class is and how it operates. It combines instersectional theory and materialism to show that culture, economics, ideology, and consciousness are all factors that go into making "class" meaningful. Using a historical lens, it studies the experiences of working class peoples, from migrant farm workers in California's central valley, to the "factory girls" of New England, and black workers in the South to explore the variety of working-class experiences. It investigates how the concepts of racial capitalism and black feminist thought, when applied to class studies and popular movements, allow us to walk and chew gum at the same time--to recognize that our movements can be diverse and particularistic as well as have elements of the universal experience shared by all workers. Ultimately, it argues that class is made up of all of us, it is of ourselves, in all our contradiction and complexity.

Foreword

Introduction

Section One: Worker Experience

Chapter 1: Experience

Permanent Antagonism

Gender and Class - Capitalism and Patriarchy

Conclusion

Chapter 2: Slavery and Wages

White Supremacy

Slaves and Wage Slaves

Industrial Productivity and Control

Intersectional Class Struggle

Conclusion

Section Two: Theory

Chapter 3: Materialism

Labor Theory of Value

The Emerging Socialist Idea

Marxism: Steps Forward and Back

Alienation

Surplus Value

Materialism

Conclusion

Chapter 4: Culture

The Problem with Materialism

Class Formation: Consciousness, Experience, Dialogue

Culture: Structure and Articulation

Conclusion

Chapter 5: Intersectionality

Racial Capitalism

Black Radical Tradition

Working Class Feminism

Black Feminist Thought

Conclusion

Section Three: Struggle

Chapter 6: Practice

Anti-Racist Class Struggle in Practice

Working-Class Feminism in Practice

Building Popular Power

Workers Democracy

Conclusions

Conclusion: On Hope and Solidity

Bibliography