GESELLSCHAFTSANALYSE UND LINKE PRAXIS NEW CLASS POLITICS Mario Candeias | Anne Steckner | Bernd Riexinger | Barbara fried | alex demiroviĆ | Bernd Röttger Volker wolterdorff | Markus Wissen Content

A Question of Class New Class Politics – A Connective Antagonism by Mario Candeias...... 4

An Enticing Offer Die Linke as a Party of Trade Union Renewal by Bernd Riexinger...... 16

»Feminism Is for Everyone« Perspectives for a Feminist Class Politics by Barbara Fried...... 24

»The Asys go home!« Door-to-Door Visits as a Strategy Against Division by Anne Steckner...... 38

The Impositions of Class Manifold Identities and Socialist Class Politics by Alex Demirović...... 46

For a Queer Feminist Class Politics of Shame by Volker Woltersdorff...... 52

Ecological Class Politics by Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen...... 60

Authors...... 70

LuXemburg Online The Class Question at the Checkout Counter by Anne Steckner and Mario Candeias

Anti-racist Class Politics by Cerem Turkmen

The Left in an Immigration Germany Emancipatory Class Politics for a Solidary Immigration Society by Barbara Fried New Class Politics Preface

The question of class rests at the center of ulated differently? Could left-wing politics a left-Marxist project. Nonetheless, ›class‹ by making »class experiences« once again has not really played much of a role in their subject demarcate a clearer difference recent stratecig debates and political prax- from ruling elites? Could this help forming ises. The reasons are manyfold: since the a »connecting antagonism« (Candeias) 1970s, social democracy has abandoned from different perspectives? the question of class in favor of models The answer cannot lie in going ›back‹ that assume a diversity of social strata; dis- to old conceptions of »class struggle«! tancing themselves from an understanding Collective effort is required to map out a of class reduced to male industrial labor, »new class politics« that does not posit new social movements have turned to identity politics and the social question questions of gender relations, the post-co- as antagonistic to each other, but rather lonial legacy and ecology; and the ›end of overthrows all the relations under which so socialism‹ has also done its part. At the many suffer. Herein lies a chance to both same time, social antagonisms have inten- sharpen emancipatory struggles in terms of sified in Western industrial countries as a class politics and draw the line against their consequence of a financialised capitalism selective integration within neoliberalism, in crisis and declining profit rates. The lat- as well as to read feminism, ecology, and ter are being ›compensated‹ for by means anti-racism as integral aspects of »ques- of flexibilization, downward pressure on tions of class«, thus (finally) placing them wages, and the destruction of public infra- at the center of a left project. structure, carried out on the backs of the How can various parts of the class be majority of the population. Most recently, connected? How can we read precarious the successes on the right – from BREXIT labor in traditionally female vocations as through the Front National and AfD up to a question of both gender relations and the election of Donald Trump in the US – class relations? And how can racism be have, in a strange way, put the question of recognized as a form through which one class back on the agenda: legitimate anger part of the class is pitted against others? on the part of those who feel they are Creating solidarity is complicated, but being held back by this system and aren’t more urgent than ever! being represented has in many places The LuXemburg Magazine has worked been expressed by a rightward turn. on some of these questions. The present How could critique of the current state brochure assembles a selection of texts on of democracy and social inequality be artic- the topic.

preface 1 A Question of Class New Class Politics – A Connective Antagonism

by Mario Candeias

It’s not that the class que1stion could ever Only a very few arrive at the top. Entry into be pushed aside totally. It preserved a the upper classes is barred, the prosperous shadowy Marxist existence. Sometimes, are isolating themselves. however, it surfaced surprisingly in the Once it was the Left Party that lent feature pages of newspapers, only then expression to the protest of the precariat. swiftly to disappear again. At this point, A class faction that was so difficult to hardly anyone denies it: we are living grasp because it defined itself primarily in a class society (again). Inequality is in negative terms: no one wants to rank rising, social divisions are becoming more among the precarious. And yet precari- entrenched, social guarantees once taken zation has long ceased to be the problem for granted have yielded to a generalized of a small few. But it’s not. It concerns culture of insecurity and a common fear of illegalized migrant cleaning women, decline. Even the putatively secure middle security personnel or cashiers as much as classes need to make an ever greater effort the well-trained East German temp worker to maintain their status. Oliver Nachtwey in the Ruhr, the (pseudo) self-employed (2016) has metaphorically expressed this trucker or the computer proletariat in call in the image of an escalator that is moving centers. It also concerns (forcedly) mobile downward: one must not stand still, if one software engineers working on short-term does not want to drift downward, and one projects, independent journalists, freelanc- needs to make quite an effort, if one wants ing creative artists or scholars. They are all to make it a little further up, against the subject to various forms of flexploitation direction in which the escalator is moving. (Bourdieu).

2 A Question of Class In the course of transnational relocations graphical self-experiment, his Returning and new rounds of layoffs, even core to Reims, was no doubt the surprise workers are no longer safe. The pressure – bestseller among last year’s political books. including pressure brought about by the A book on his return to his parental home, precarious – is ubiquitous. The issue is not which he had left as a »class refugee«, in only one of employment relations bereft order to be able to live out his homosexual of security, but also one of insecure living orientation and become a professor of conditions, the absence of recognition and sociology – and not to return for decades. future prospects, the dismantling of social The many-faceted book, which narrates infrastructure, displacement through tales of shame, of the life and nightmare drastic rent hikes, and the absence of plan- of the working class, and especially of ning certainty within one’s life plan. What women, attempts to furnish elements of separates these groups, and might there be an explanation why a working class that something that unifies them? What is at once voted left – at least to a significant stake here is working out the »re-making degree – is now voting right. Sold out by of the working class« (Candeias 2009). social democracy, disappointed by the ineffectiveness of the Communist Party, The Class Question from the Right many turn to a powerful new narrative: Today, the class question is no longer that of defending hard-working people, the associated with left-wing, but rather with nation and culture against others, »Islam«, right-wing protest. While the membership »immigrants«, globalization, gay and base of parties such as the Alternative for LGBT persons, the »moralizing members Germany or the Front National, and of of the 1968 generation«, who are now in movements such as Pegida or »Manif pour power, etc. Eribon strikes a nerve. tous« (opponents of homosexual marriage The class question has also been in- in France), consists largely of groups from voked to explain the electoral decision that the economically secure middle classes led to Brexit: The Brexit vote, Owen Jones or the petty bourgeoisie – and mainly of (2016) argues, was a »working-class revolt. men –, these parties and movements are Perhaps it was not the kind of revolt against now able to attract a relevant number of the political establishment that many of us workers and unemployed persons as well. would have wished for. But the outcome Didier Eribon (2013) calls this electoral of the referendum is without doubt due to decision in favor of the radical right an the voices of an angry, politically alienated« »act of political self-defence« – a measure working class, at least of a predominantly taken in order to feature within political white and male. This development is discourse at all, if only in the form of »neg- evident in many European countries (least ative self-affirmation«. Eribon’s autobio­ of all in Greece, Spain and Portugal).

Mario Candeias 3 As for Donald Trump being elected Riexinger) – i.e. to all those who strive for president of the USA, the majority of his a democratic, social and ecological way supporters were not working-class. Never- of life. Yet absent a genuine left turn, the theless the fact that a significant number right cannot be combated effectively. This of male white workers shifted their support is demonstrated by the outcome of numer- to Trump in certain states lent him the de- ous elections. Mélenchon was able to help cisive advantage and led to his winning the this »third pole« become visible briefly, election. Even more important, perhaps, during the first round of the French pres- was the sense of alienation Hillary Clinton, idential elections, just as Bernie Sanders a representative of the establishment par had done before him, in the run-up to the excellence, inspired in large parts of the US elections. The Left Party must, for the working class. These workers voted right, time being, rise to this challenge without or even more of them not at all (see also the support of other parties. Hochschild in LuXemburg 3/2016). How What is required to counter authori- should the left react to such a development? tarianism from above and from the right is the defence of a democratic and solidary The Third Pole: A »Lower-Middle« way of life, one that extends far beyond Alliance Lacking the »Lower«? the elements of a left mosaic and well into The radical right articulates the counter- middle-class circles. Such a third pole pole to the authoritarian neoliberalism already exists »in itself«, and it is surely whose exponents range from Merkel and most visible in the countless welcome Schäuble to Macron, and which governs refugee and citizens’ initiatives, as well in an authoritarian manner. The SPD was as in social movements. But it has not briefly able to disrupt, through Martin yet found political expression (and it is Schulz, this polarization between neolib- doubtful whether one should be thinking, eralism’s more-of-the-same approach and in this case, of a party-political expression the right-wing authoritarian promise to in the strict sense). This is something provide all »Germans« with protection that needs to be worked on, so as to create within the competitive community of the the preconditions for a change of course nation. Many had high hopes that the SPD within society – and in government. The would finally strive for majorities from the Left Party is an indispensable part and a left. But it is obviously unwilling to do so. driving force behind this endeavor. And The brief moment of optimism is over, it has done much to create an open and the bubble has burst. Social democracy solidary society, when parts of society remains in an existential crisis. It does not turned against refugees and immigrants want to participate in lending a voice to and insecurity was on the rise. As the the great »camp of solidarity« (Kipping/ elections in other countries demonstrate,

4 A Question of Class the chances, including in terms of electoral A New Class Politics arithmetics, of moving beyond the »ten- A change of perspective is therefore percent-niche« have improved. The Left needed: a new class politics that does not Party has a duty to assertively occupy the negate the variety of interests within the party-political space left vacant by the SPD left mosaic. A straightforward return to the and the Green Party. class struggle of former times cannot be To date, the third pole has however the answer. Issues such as racism, gender manifested itself mainly in the »solidary relations, social issues, ecology and peace middle of society«, among those with high are inextricably interwoven. There is a levels of formal qualification, in urban connection between different relations milieus and class factions. It is much less of exploitation and oppression. It is not rooted, by contrast, in the so-called popular for nothing that we ought to »overthrow classes, in the »endangered middle of soci- all relations in which man is a debased, ety« and among those subject to precarity. enslaved, forsaken, despicable being« The »dissident third« (Thomas Seibert) in (MECW, vol. 3, p. 182; emphasis in society is too small – to focus on it alone is original). to do too little. This imbalance in society’s Authoritarianism and right-wing composition also concerns the Left Party, populism have driven emancipatory which is now strongly shaped by persons forces into a defensive position. We are with an academic background – in spite told that an excess of »gender madness«, of also being, in some cases, more rooted »early sexualization«, the »quota«, »pink among the so-called left-behinds. What is hullaballoo« and »green paternalism« has lacking for the indispensable creation of alienated the social left from »normal« a »lower-middle alliance« (Michael Brie) people and workers. Feminism, LGBTIQ is largely the »lower«. The party does not rights and ecology are described as elite reach, or no longer reaches, large segments projects. In fact, left-wing feminism of the popular classes; it is losing them to and critical political ecology have always the right. More frequently still, the popular criticized the forms assumed by a classes withdraw and seclude themselves. feminism »from above« or an »ecological This class-specific discouragement is an lifestyle« for the affluent, forms that allow existential problem for the Left Party: no for recognition or an ecological »clean matter how many value-oriented people conscience« without any redistribution were to vote for it, the result would of wealth and power (Fraser), and which resemble a process of internal erosion. If are incapable of reflecting upon gender this situation does not change, the best relations and society’s relation to nature the Left Party can hope for is an imaginary in terms of society (as a whole), or even as proxy politics. relations of production. The critique of a

Mario Candeias 5 one-sided orientation toward recognition It should not be confused with the old should not, however, lead us to throw the white, male working class of disadvantaged achievements of emancipatory struggles regions that are home to aging industries. for recognition overboard: what has been This is the part of the working class that successfully struggled for in terms of is so readily invoked when speaking of gender equality, the recognition of gay Brexit, Trump, Le Pen, the Alternative for and lesbian life styles, diversity of sexual Germany and so on. Naturally, this class orientations, cultural openness and small faction also has legitimate interests. But steps towards a more ecological way of life the class as a whole is more varied, always etc., needs to be defended. We need more has been, and all the more so today: we are of this rather than less. confronted with an enormous precariat, Differences ought therefore not to part of which has an academic back- be treated as secondary contradictions or ground, is cosmopolitan and urban. This thought of in hierarchical terms. Moreover, part is relatively amenable to emancipatory diverging concerns and interests cannot positions and an essential component of simply be added together – they need to be the protest movements of the past decades, actively connected to one another. This is which many of us are also part of. And only possible when done with the people then there is also a formally less quali- themselves, by being present, organizing fied precariat that usually lives in other, alongside them as part of their everyday life, disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. It in the neighborhoods and at the workplace, tends not to be politically organized and by enabling people to empower themselves. participates in elections more rarely, if at This is also the basis upon which the Left all, though it would nonetheless be availa- Party can regain credibility. Such credibility ble for a left-wing politics, if only someone can serve as a pedestal for efficient parlia- were to reach out to it. mentary representation, and it can develop If nothing else, the class today is a con- an appeal for the many persons who do not siderably more female, (post)migrant and wish to or cannot become politically active. motley one, boasting the most varied sexual What is needed is a stronger orientations and identities. The greater part emphasis on socio-economic issues. But of the immigrants and refugees coming who is the class? Who represents the class? into our country are themselves part of the The coal miner in Lusatia, the industrial working class. And the working class has worker threatened by digitalization, the long since been united across borders by DHL courier who finds himself at the end virtue of the work it performs within global of an IT-controlled logistics chain, or the production chains – it is at least subject nurse in a modern hospital corporation? to transborder exploitation; transnational The class is undergoing constant change. organization has still only begun. Thus the

6 A Question of Class social question also has to (and always has stronger social base – all of these things had to) be posed from the perspective of are indispensable, if the Left in general is migration, for the immigration society has to become effectual (Candeias/Brie 2016). long become a reality (cf. Kron 2017). When Some of these projects are already getting we speak, then, of a necessary return to the off the ground. The Left Party bears a question of class, we are not speaking about responsibility, here, that the SPD and the a return to a reductionist concept of class Green Party refuse (so far) to shoulder: it or a putative main contradiction; rather, we needs to embody an alternative that breaks are speaking about a new class politics that with business as usual. always takes into account, from the outset, In concrete terms, this also means do- but without any sort of patronizing political ing things that can seem so very difficult: correctness, the interwovenness of relations approaching people, going from door to of oppression (intersectionality, as one says door, mainly in the present and former today), as exemplified by Lia Becker at the strongholds of the Left Party, especially in 2016 fall academy of BdWi and the RLS, disadvantaged neighborhoods, and across »Europe, What’s Next?«. the country (cf. Steckner in LuXemburg This means class needs first of all to be 1/2017). Regardless of whether we are rendered visible in all its diversity. What do dealing with German natives, first-gen- they think, feel and want – the coal miner in eration immigrants or persons with a Lusatia, the precariously employed Amazon postmigrant background, and regardless worker, the nurse in the health factory, the of whether they have the right to vote or young female student, the ordinary people not, or whether they are newly arrived of the welcome refugee initiatives or the refugees – we need to establish connec- migrant who has been living here for forty tions. This requires perseverance. We need years and is faced with growing hostility to listen, discuss, issue invitations to local to Islam, as well as with violence? These assemblies addressing local problems diverse situations, concerns and hardships of everyday life, such as those related to need first of all to be met with empathy. issues of housing. We need to come back, try again. It is a surprising experience Class Politics: Concrete and Local for both sides to even be approached and Class politics also means venturing forth, begin a personal conversation on everyday to go out, and building real connections problems and politics. The approach to the popular classes, particularly in must not be a purely instrumental one, disadvantaged areas, beyond the usual simply a matter of recruiting members for suspects. Creating structures of solidarity, one’s organization or winning votes. It is rebel neighborhoods and rebel cities, a question of establishing local nodes of becoming more numerous, organizing a resistance and forward-looking action.

Mario Candeias 7 The activists who go from door to door my view, this is a ›salutary‹ and productive have »repeatedly faced prejudice, resent- experience, because you can’t babble and ment, everyday racism and verbal violence, fret over the world with your left-wing including from persons sympathetic to the friends; you have to make your own poli- Left Party. But only a very few had a coher- tics communicable, such that you have to ent worldview or were utterly unamenable be able to explain, in simple language and to argument – differently from what the in only a few sentences, what the problem current debate on post-truth thinking is and why left-wing politics is the right an- would lead one to expect. The challenge swer to it,« says Moritz Warnke, member consisted, rather, in articulating common of Berlins local Left Party’s executive. interests – where such common interests The next step from there is concrete existed – by means of intelligent questions organizing in disadvantaged residential or succinct proposals, without watering neighborhoods, so-called deprived areas, down one’s own position or denying the in the form of tenants initiatives, welfare reality of people’s experiences,« says Anne counseling, systematic support of labor Steckner in a first assessment of the can- struggles, be it at Amazon or in hospitals, vassing projects. We need to look closely or in the form of welcome refugee initia- and take those who are approachable tives. In brief, it is a question of building seriously, to explore commonalities to the solidary structures in everyday life, as sites greatest extent possible, without becoming of mutual aid and political organizing. spineless. And we need to challenge How this works is something one can opinions in such a way as not to lose our learn. That is why, in addition to training counterpart altogether: »Today’s experience persons to do outreach work, we also tells me that it is not just wrong, but also need training courses on transformative completely unnecessary to conceal or even organizing. Within any organizing process abandon our anti-racism in order to begin that does not want to get stuck in the local, a conversation with people whose everyday the question concerning the relation and thinking is riddled with racist clichés. I the link between different levels of politics have challenged or openly contradicted quickly arises. So we need to begin anew, racist statements and was nevertheless starting at the local level, from within the able to speak to people about low pension neighborhoods, very much inspired by re- payments and expensive day care centers,« bel cities, but in a manner that is integrated says Felix Pithan, regional representative into countrywide as well as European of the Left Party in Bremen. perspectives and practices. It is also worth »The main effect is not so much on considering adapting the model of Solidar- the persons whose doorbells you ring, but ity4all1, so as to ensure there is sufficient on those who are going door to door. In personnel and an adequate resource base

8 A Question of Class for supporting and promoting what people embark on within such organ- izing processes – be it within or outside the Left Party. To date, this is also the only way to win back those segments of the popular classes we have lost. In part, this is a question of the justified fears and problems of the endangered middle of Markus Koller society and of precarious workers – people who no longer feel represented, who feel life are discussed far more rarely, in the they have been pushed out of political public debate, than the (much smaller) discourse. This does not imply that all of protests of the radical right. the interests of these groups should be ad- What it all comes down to is the dressed by the left: group-based discourses question of what has shaped one’s of denigration and anti-emancipatory particular everyday experiences – practical positions that reproduce domination are solidarity in the neighborhood and at work, where we draw the line. After all, our goal or ubiquitous competition and isolation. cannot be that of operating on the same This is why it is far from impossible that terrain as the right. It would make sense successful solidary practice should be to make »other themes, perspectives and more attractive than a right-wing project, values« the decisive (electoral) issues, as which is associated only with an imaginary Horst Kahrs (2015a) argues in one of his self-empowerment. Two factors must, analyses of the link between the drift to however, not be underestimated: (a) »im- the right and the question of class. For it agined communities« (Anderson) such as is quite common to forget those roughly the »nation« have always been enormously eight million persons who are actively mobilizing interpellations, whereas left- engaged in supporting refugees. Their wing organizing requires much patience interests and their quiet political commit- and the courage to stand up to the real ment to a solidary and democratic way of powers that be; (b) integration into a right-

Mario Candeias 9 wing project alters the segments of the modation for all, whether they be refugees popular classes affected. Winning them or recipients of Hartz IV payments. But also back is harder than winning them over in with regard to work 4.0, the question of con- the first place. version in coal-mining regions, questions of migration and the struggle against the right, From Solidarity to Socialism in trade union work, in educational policy, Right-wing activists operate on the basis with regard to the question of democracy, or of fear, resentment and hatred. We must to questions touching upon the organization oppose to this solidarity and hope, not as of the mosaic and the building of political an appeal, but as a concrete practice. Bernie parties etc. – here a class perspective could Sanders’ political revolution is paradigmatic make a difference. of such a perspective, as are the rebel cities Orienting the problematic to class in the Spanish state. It is good and it does politics serves two purposes. First, it aims one good to be solidary. A solidary practice to strengthen left-wing approaches and that addresses refugees and minorities as perspectives within feminism, ecology and well as the downwardly mobile and the anti-racism, or with regard to LGBTIQ is- endangered middle of society: persons sues, while allowing for a clearer distinction subject to the Hartz IV workfare system, between left-wing approaches and more unemployed persons and low-wage workers, limited liberal approaches centered on all those who are caught in the rat race, gender parity, ecological modernization etc., trying to earn a »good life« for themselves, taking up the positive aspects of such liberal and who may sometimes be angry at puta- approaches and radicalizing them – within a tive underachievers. People need to feel not »feminist« (Fried in this issue) and »queer« only that their interests are perceived, but class politics (Woltersdorf in this issue), that their situation and their existence are an »ecological class politics« (Röttger/ met with empathy. On this basis of the rec- Wissen in this issue), an »antiracist and ognition of needs, connective and solidary post-migrant« class politics. Each of these practices can be developed. The question needs to be spelled out in detail. For merely concerning a new class politics needs to to claim instersectionality/interwovenness be developed in concrete terms in each is not enough. Within practical projects, it is particular case, i.e. as an inclusive, feminist/ already difficult to relate two contradictions, intersectional class politics, as an ecological e.g. class and racism, to one another in a class politics, an internationalist, anti-racist/ dynamic and productive way. And we need post-immigrant class politics, with regard to develop projects and practices that reach to socio-economic issues in Germany or beyond the usual suspects and tap into the Europe, with regard to the question of social diversity of the popular classes, projects that infrastructures, from healthcare to accom- are borne by these classes themselves.

10 A Question of Class Secondly, social justice has always been political rights seriously can supplement the left’s »core brand«. With a new class a class-based approach; both aim at politics, the left can promote social justice organization and the collective appropri- in a more pronounced way, unambiguously ation of social conditions of existence. So making reference to and connecting with when we speak of a necessary return to the the class »below« and clearly positioning question of class in the form of a socio-eco- itself as an opponent of the ruling class nomic, feminist, inclusive, intersectional, »above« and »on the radical right« (cf. Can- socio-ecological, anti-racist/post-migrant deias 2015). Such a new class politics could and international class politics, we are become a kind of connective antagonism. speaking of something that still needs to be As a political party, the Left Party can developed, for which no blueprint exists. embody such a class politics while simul- The class is divided in a variety of taneously overcoming the false opposition ways, along lines of division that are to putatively »soft, purple, pink, green« professional and generational, related to issues. Feminism and ecology are not only formal education, to gender, ethno-na- for the elite – they are class issues. Again tional and other (self-) ascriptions, or – of and again, they are treated, perhaps not as course – to one’s position within the social secondary contradictions, but as additional process of (re-)production. This has never issues, juxtaposed to »hard« fields such as been otherwise. To this extent, it is always narrow economic and social questions. A a matter of a making and re-making of new class politics could help bring these class. And this always occurs in relation to issues more strongly to the fore while relat- other – mainly subaltern – classes, not the ing them to one another and binding them least of which is the class of peasants and inextricably together. An additional benefit subsistence farmers, especially in times of this is that traditional class politics is of transnationalization. It is not putatively retrieved from the dusty niches of the »objective« interests that are at stake, main contradiction and conceptualized in but rather the diverse interests of various a broader and more inclusive way. It is only groups and class factions, interests that when they are considered together that the are not simply given, but only take shape (Gordian) »knot« of the various relations of through engagement with others. Here, domination can be cut (Frigga Haug). contradictions arise that we must navigate. Moreover, a new class politics cannot And many of these contradictions bisect be realized within a nation-state frame- individuals themselves, because each work. It needs to take a stand for global individual (and his her or family or set of social rights in an internationalist manner significant others) also needs to reconcile if it is not to produce new exclusions. An a variety of interests: the search for work, approach that takes social, cultural and ideally good work, but also for time – in

Mario Candeias 11 which to care for others or oneself, or growing, increasingly radical right-wing to pursue political and cultural commit- populism on the other, this last going hand ments –, and the interest in a healthy in hand with an authoritarian security environment, in the prospect of a life policy on the part of the government, and worth living for one’s children, or in an with the European border regime? Once affluent, and public, social infrastructure. again, the debate is highly emotional, and It is a question of working through its emotional nature is amplified by social contradictions in a solidary manner, a media. Emphasis is placed on that which matter of a new class politics that links separates us. Ascriptions, insinuations up with a democratic way of life. And and undue simplifications, phrases taken this is impossible without the prospect of out of context – all this is put to use and fundamental transformation. exaggerated. The debate is overshadowed Given this need for radicality, the Left by many petty inner-left struggles for Party finds itself in a situation of tension distinction from one another and many vis-à-vis the third pole, which cannot be major political image neuroses. Different understood primarily as »left-wing«, and inner-left perspectives were brought which places the main emphasis on the into exaggerated opposition, instead of defence of a solidary and democratic way of searching, together, for ways in which they life. Yet we need to refer to our notions of might be connected. Overstatements are a solidary, democratic, feminist, anti-racist popular, supposedly because they promote post-growth society by a name that is new debate. In fact, the opposite is the case: and old, the unfulfilled: socialism. We need debate is prevented; in the best possible to argue over what this socialism ought to case, it is temporarily muted by formulaic mean in the 21st century – a good, solidary compromises. The established media also and just society, the »simple thing – so do their part in aggravating the divisions hard to achieve« (Brecht). Not everyone will within the left and producing false opposi- sign their name to this proposal, but what tions. In this complex situation, it becomes should be accepted as self-evident is that a difficult to even articulate new ideas without transformational left, within the left mosaic immediately being associated with one or the third pole, stands for socialism. camp or pigeonholed. Language becomes a Why is all this important? Once again, minefield, and reflection is stalled. There is the social left is threatening to fail because a truly massive need for unifying perspec- of its internal divisions. We are dealing tives and practices. Self-fragmentation is a with difficult contradictions and necessary luxury we cannot afford given our dramatic confrontations. For instance: What position situation, characterized by a polarization should the left take with regard to flight of the political between neoliberal authori- and immigration on the one hand and a tarianism and the radical right. Addressing

12 A Question of Class this problem should be a prime task of wahlverhalten, RLS, Berlin, www.rosalux.de/ organizational work. But this would indeed fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Themen/Klassen_ und_Sozialstruktur/2015-03-01_Ka_Arbeitspa- amount to a cultural revolution within the pier_Wahlenthaltung.pdf left. For we love our divisions. Too many Nachtwey, Oliver, 2017: Die Abstiegsgesellschaft, Frankfurt/Main »green-pink« issues, too much gender Kron, Stefanie, 2017: Move it! Für die Kanackisie- »hogwash« and political correctness, says rung linker Politik, in: LuXemburg, No. 1/2017, one side; too much willingness to see pp. 60–65, www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/ move-it-fuer-die-kanakisierung-linker-politik/ things from the perspective of supporters of Röttger, Bernd, and Markus Wissen, 2017: Ecologi- the Alternative for Germany, says the other. cal Class Politics, in this LuXemburg issue Mediating and connective intellectuals are Russel Hochschild, Arlie, 2016: Ausgehöhlt. Die Tea Party, ein Erdsturz in Louisiana und needed, more than ever. But their task is die Abgründe amerikanischer Politik, in: not easy. And that task ought, after all, to be LuXemburg, No. 3/2016, pp. 12–21, www.zeit- one we all help accomplish together. schrift-luxemburg.de/ausgehoehlt-die-tea-par- ty-ein-erdsturz-in-louisiana-und-die-abgruen- de-amerikanischer-politik/ Translated by Max Henninger Steckner, Anne, 2017: »The asylants have to go!« Why the Left should talk to the people, instead of talking about them, in this LuXemburg issue References Woltersdorff, Volker, 2017: For a Queer Feminist Candeias, Mario, 2009: Unmaking and Remaking Class Politics of Shame, in this LuXemburg issue of Class. The »Impossible« Precariat Between Fragmentation and Movement, RLS policy paper 3/2009, www.rosalux.de/cms/fileadmin/ 1 In Greece, the Solidarity4all network serves rls_uploads/pdfs/pp-3-09_Candeias.pdf to promote links between solidarity structures Candeias, Mario (2015): Gegenmittel gegen auto- and to empower those structures. Each of Syriza›s ritären Neoliberalismus und Rechtspopulis- members of parliament donates a substantial part mus – Perspektiven einer verbindenden linken of his or her earnings to the Solidarity4all fund, Partei, in: Rechtspopulismus in Europa, RLS and at least one assistant of each member of par- Materialien 12, www.rosalux.de/publikation/ liament is released from duty so that they can work id/8340/rechtspopulismus-in-europa/ within social movements. Solidarity4all operates Candeias, Mario, 2016: Die verbindende Partei im independently of Syriza. Yet Syriza was enor- Praxis-Test, in: Prokla No. 182, pp. 153–166 mously important as an infrastructure by which Eribon, Didier, 2013: Returning to Reims. Cambridge to build the solidarity movements. Many common Fried, Barbara, 2017: Feminism is for Everyone. members of the party, but also party leaders, mem- Perspectives for Feminist Class Politics, in this bers of parliament and parliamentary assistants LuXemburg issue have for years been active not just within Syriza, Haug, Frigga, 2013: Herrschaft als Knoten denken, but also within extra-parliamentary initiatives and in: LuXemburg, No. 2/2013, www.zeitschrift-lux- struggles. Syriza was present in the movements, emburg.de/herrschaft-als-knoten-denken/ but has never tried to control them. The party Kahrs, Horst, 2015a: Zerfall des Mythos von der »Mit- thereby represents a new type of political party, one te« – Ausbreitung eines »sozialen Nationalismus«, perhaps best characterized in terms of Mimmo published by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Porcaro›s concept of the »conjunctive party«. This Berlin, www.rosalux.de/publication/41034/zer- particular attempt to create a connective party has fall-des-mythos-von-der-mitte-ausbreitung-ei- failed. There are many reasons for this failure, nes-sozialen-nationalismus.html which I cannot enter into here (cf. Candeias Kahrs, Horst, 2015b: Wahlenthaltung als Klassen- 2016). But we should learn from this experience.

Mario Candeias 13 An Enticing Offer Die Linke as a Party of Trade Union Renewal

By Bernd Riexinger

The 2007 founding of Die Linke, or the (see Kipping/Riexinger 2015) since 2012.3 Left Party, in Germany marked a crack This comes from the insight that a change in the social-democratic hegemony that in the relation of forces in society is the characterizes Germany’s trade unions. only possible basis for shifting the balance This hegemony had been eroding since the of forces within the state, and thus for even 1990s, but in the wake of mass protests considering participation in government. against the »Agenda 2010« reforms, Socialist parties must not limit themselves fractions of the trade unions finally broke to the parliamentary representation of exist- with the neoliberalized Social Democratic ing social forces. Their function is to actively Party (SPD) to participate in the founding build the class power of working people of Die Linke.1 The party has thus far been and social hegemony for emancipatory and able to fill the gap it created and establish socialist goals. With the cancellation of the itself as a strong minority wing within the welfare state class compromise in neoliberal trade unions. At the same time, it faces capitalism, the balance of forces between the challenge of extending its support to capital and labor has shifted in favor of unionized wage earners and expanding its capital. The use value of a socialist party »use value« within the struggles for better thus must be measured by its ability to build living and working conditions.2 organizing power, identify shared interests, Partly in an attempt to address these and formulate and represent political goals challenges, Katja Kipping and I have been among different sections of wage laborers. working towards renewal of our party’s The concept of the connective party thus culture and strategy as a »connective party« means that Die Linke ought to view itself

14 An enticing Offer not only as the parliamentary representative unionization rate and even win moderate of wage laborers, but also as an »organic« pay raises. That said, both the manufac- and active part of the trade union movement turing industry and the booming export itself. Contrary to Lenin’s concept of the sector are witnessing a hardening division party, this does not mean subordinating the between the so-called core workforce and trade unions to a party that holds a monopo- the 20–40% of precarious employees. The ly on political struggle, but rather an alliance outsourcing of work to contracting firms is of equals that encourages the development linked to employers’ ongoing withdrawal of independent initiatives within the trade from collective bargaining agreements unions. This must be judged by its ability with the unions, wage dumping, and the to resonate among the majority of working weakening of social standards. The same people, including the unemployed, to create goes for privatization and the relocation of connections of solidarity among different hospital workers and employees of other groups of employees, and to reach out with public institutions into the ranks of private its own goals into the SPD’s base. subcontractors. This development has had fatal consequences for the organizational getting out of the defensive: power and influence of unions. Coverage Supporting New Strike Involvement by collective labor agreements has been The flipside of what neoliberal economists dramatically reduced, and is now at only and the German government describe 51% of employees in the west and 37% as the »German miracle,« namely, the in the east of the country. This has direct overcoming of the deep collapse during consequences on wages, since there is a the global economic crisis of 2008–09, is roughly 18% difference in pay between intensified polarization and precarization employees covered by collective wage of the working and living environment. agreements and those who are not. Millions of people, 25–30% of all In recent years, and against the wage-earners, are employed on temporary background of decades of relatively low contracts as casual staff, as contract strike activity, new strike movements workers, or in so-called »mini-jobs.« The have developed, such as those in the retail national government’s introduction of an sector, the security industry, call centers, hourly minimum wage of €8.50 did not food production, cleaning, the food service eliminate Europe’s largest low-wage sector, industry, teaching, and nursing staff in while even many people outside this sector hospitals. New agents of struggle have struggle to get by on their current wages. emerged from the strikes in the service The IG Metall, the single largest industries; the participation of women union in Europe with over two million and migrants is often particularly high. members, has managed to stabilize its Building on these tendencies in the class

Bernd Riexinger 15 struggle and making them the springboard so as to reduce overall stress for workers. of a political offensive must be at the heart This fight had been prepared for years of a connective party’s trade union strategy. through the deep involvement of workers It is a central task of Die Linke to support whose success was not least due to new ap- union revitalization efforts towards conflict proaches such as »wage councilors« (Wolf orientation and the democratization of 2015). With a so-called »bed-and-station strikes. The party can contribute to this closing strike,« a high strike level could by creating spaces for the exchange of be achieved even in sensitive areas such experiences between strikers from differ- as intensive care, making it possible for ent companies and industries, wherein a workers to apply real economic pressure. mutual learning process can take place and Moreover, demands for more personnel a political culture of solidarity can develop. and less work stress fostered alliances These activities can’t be organized by the with patients and other segments of unions alone, and more importantly, such workers. Active party members and social initiatives strengthen Die Linke by anchor- movement activists formed a coalition ing it in the trade union rank-and-file – a to support the strike, drawn in by the key goal of the party in the coming years. struggle’s connection to quality health care Given our limited resources, it would and good employment conditions for all as be wise to set priorities, engaging in model an alternative to permanent stress. Slogans conflicts and industries in order to make such as »more of us is better for everyone« Die Linke’s potential value evident to all or »striking against the burn-out society« workers and achieve tangible victories. As struck at the heart of the matter. The Char- a first step, we want to concentrate on the ité case is now reverberating in hospitals social, health, and nursing professions. across the country, where the experiences More people work in the social services gathered in Berlin are being discussed as sector today than in all of Germany’s export actions are planned. industries combined. Policies of deliberate In the context of an ongoing under-funding and economizing social campaign against precarious working and services are part of the neoliberal export living conditions, we are attempting to model. This sort of care work, mostly con- provide political support to the struggle for ducted by women, is devalued in compari- more social sector personnel and connect son to labor in the export industries. to conflicts in the workplace, encouraging A historical victory was won in this employees, patients, and other interested sector in April 2016 by the nursing staff parties to come together and cooperate of Berlin’s Charité hospital – namely, staff in loose, open campaigning groups. Our won their first contract stipulating an in- objective is to connect the various conflicts crease in the number of hospital personnel in hospitals, day-care, and schools and

16 An enticing Offer forge a socio-political struggle to raise the Carsten Bach value of social services and expand good education, care, and healthcare for all. ing from such agreements unilaterally. The most important strike at Amazon lasted for Political Offensive for New Normal two years for this very same reason, namely, Working Conditions that it is objectively difficult to win a labor Truly moving out of a defensive position, conflict and exert pressure on the capital however, is only possible through a side with a largely temporary workforce cross-sector shake-up of political and social subject to constant personnel changes. In relations. This is because, although it’s 2015, tens of thousands of people in the possible to win an admirable struggle in iso- social service and education sectors went on lated cases – such as happened in the retail strike for a significant pay raise, and with sector in 2014 – or even to repel a direct at- it the increased social recognition of their tack on sector-wide bargaining agreements, important but underpaid labor. Neverthe- more and more firms are simply withdraw- less, facing the pressure of deficit reduction

Bernd Riexinger 17 policies and the fiscal emergency afflicting different groups of precarious workers, many local governments, they were only employees still covered by labor agree- able to achieve in part the aim of a sustaina- ments in manufacturing and the public ble improvement of social work, even in this sector – especially the growing number well-organized and strike-inclined sector of education, healthcare, and nursing with a longer history of struggle. professions – and members of the so-called The union apparatuses, still strongly urban left milieus, meaning mostly higher influenced by Social Democracy, are poorly qualified and younger people. prepared for these challenges. Although With this strategy, a whole set of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) hardly overlapping problems can be taken up, achieved improvements for working people including popular demands for »good in the grand coalition with the conservative work«: collective bargaining agreements parties aside from the introduction of a with social insurance must again become porous and too-low minimum wage, union the norm, and wages must cover living leadership clings tightly to a kind of stand- expenses and be adequate for retirement in still agreement with the grand coalition. In accordance with dignified living standards. return for the government refraining from New regulations cannot simply be a return a full-on socio-political assault, the union to the old normal working conditions, with leadership refrains from unifying political rigid, full-time working schedules and life- struggles and from political mobilizations long employment at one company. Rather, against precarious work and corporate our campaign is a struggle for hegemony withdrawal from labor agreements – let from the Left: work must become secure alone from a broader confrontation with for all people, working hours must be neoliberal politics. shortened, gender justice must be a priority, In this situation, Die Linke’s task is and work must be equally shared, self-de- to push forward debates about the trade termined, and democratically co-created unions’ political mandate and become the (see ibid). Instead of mass unemployment, central force of political change opposing constant stress, and existential fear, what deregulation and precarization. Towards society needs is the redistribution of this goal, we are introducing the project work – not least between genders. Our for »new normal working conditions« (see current ­predicament of overtime and Riexinger 2016a) into union discussions. over-exploitation on one side and structural This should help to identify the interests of under-employment by way of mini-jobs and different class milieus and connect them involuntary part-time work on the other with one another in solidarity. Against the could be overcome with a new, flexible work neoliberal strategy of divide and rule, we regime, centered around a thirty- rather seek an alliance between the unemployed, than forty-hour work week.

18 An enticing Offer In contrast to the concept promoted by leadership. These days, such a transforma- the SPD and the Greens, which focuses tion can hardly occur within the framework exclusively on flexibilization, ours is of nation states alone. concerned primarily with social security In the next years, we aim to anchor through compensatory wage increases, this initiative for new normal working con- pension hikes, shorter working hours, and ditions in the unions. As an initial project, the redistribution of productivity gains. we aim to establish broad coalitions for the That said, new normal working reconstruction of the social foundations of conditions can only be implemented as our democracy, capable of reaching deep part of a transition to another path of into the Social Democratic base. At the mo- social development, which includes the ment, Die Linke is not in a position to win expansion of the public in the direction of the struggle over hegemony as a whole. social guarantees for quality healthcare, Following years of defeat, the trade union education and care, affordable housing, movement must first win concrete victo- energy supply, and mobility for all. In light ries and improvements in living conditions of the deep crisis of the EU, an econom- through organizing and social protest. To ic-political change of direction in Germany do this, it is necessary to connect union is immediately necessary. The demand struggles and engage in political conflict for a radical redistribution of wealth must against neoliberal policies. Two potential be an offensive one, just like the demand starting points are conceivable: for the democratic decisions over public investment, which could lead to a broader 1 | The demand for a living wage and a plan- demand for cooperative property. Through nable future. This demand is already shared the development of a public future sector, by very different groups of employees. eR - in which both research and development cent studies show that as a result of declin- as well as industrial production could be ing pension levels following the Schröder ecologically and democratically developed government’s neoliberal pension reforms, on the basis of new technologies, in the wages below €12/hour lead to poverty in form of public companies, cooperatives, old age. Almost every second person who and collectives, technological innovations enters retirement beginning in 2030 risks could be shaped democratically and with living on a pension below the poverty line. a view towards socially useful objectives. Two-thirds of the population do not trust From the radical perspective of a social-eco- the grand coalition to reverse this growing logical, economic democracy, the necessary avalanche of old-age poverty. Accordingly, transformation of industry, energy supply, the unions plan to make pensions a key and mobility is to be connected with steps issue of the federal election in 2017. Die towards the socialization of economic Linke will intervene in the coming debate

Bernd Riexinger 19 over pensions and address the connection itself. The Right has inserted itself into this between pensions and weak wage growth vacuum of representation left by neoliber- resulting from precarious employment alized Social Democracy. For years, studies and many employers’ withdrawal from have shown a relatively widespread dissem- collective bargaining agreements. ination of racist, nationalist, and authori- tarian thought patterns within the unions. 2 | Opposing employers’ withdrawal from In the regional elections in March of this collective bargaining agreements. Whether year, the right-wing populist Alternative for collective bargaining agreements cover all Germany (AfD) received strong, above-av- workers is, at its core, a question of polit- erage support from unionists: over 15% of ical power. The unions must fight so that union members in Baden-Württemberg they can submit their proposals directly in and 24% in Sachsen-Anhalt voted for the the future, instead of having to first con- AfD, despite the fact that the party actually sult with the capital side, as is currently the cultivates a strongly anti-union stance. case. It must be made illegal for employers There is a danger that the Right could suc- to avoid collective bargaining agreements ceed in permanently shifting the direction through outsourcing and temporary of conflicts over social questions in a racist contracts. The socio-political struggle direction. Many people hardly believe in the against precarious work, beginning from possibility of a real redistribution of wealth, branch-specific conflicts such as the retail and thus differentiate themselves in the or logistic sector, could be more effectively everyday struggle for survival over a piece of conducted from such a perspective. the »cake,« widely perceived as shrinking, from those »outside« and »below« them – For a Collective Break with Neolib- the undeserving poor, lazy immigrants, etc. eralism and Right-Wing Populism This fatalism signifies the central weakness The struggle against precarization and of the societal left, namely its inability to processes of division also has political bring about gradual changes in common implications for the fate of the trade union sense and public understanding. Die Linke movement. The population’s experiences sees itself in this situation as the organizing of unfettered corporate power and everyday power, the connective party of a social alli- insecurity are a breeding ground for right- ance against neoliberalism and right-wing wing populist and authoritarian forces. A populism (see Riexinger 2016b). glance across the border at our European The destruction of the livelihoods of neighbors shows that Europe is in a deep hundreds of millions of people, especially and gripping crisis, characterized by the in the Global South, through land-grab- erosion of Social Democracy and, connected bing, the plundering of resources, and the to this, the social foundations of democracy consequences of ecological crisis and war

20 An enticing Offer have led to strong waves of migration. His- References torically, capital has always used migration Kipping, Katja/Riexinger, Bernd, 2015: Die kommende Demokratie. Sozialismus 2.0, to sharpen the competition between waged www.die-linke.de/nc/die-linke/nachrichten/ workers and promote divisions within detail/zurueck/nachrichten/artikel/die-kom- mende-demokratie-sozialismus-20 society. It is necessary to lead the struggle Porcaro, Mimmo, 2011: Linke Parteien in der for the minds of the union’s social base: fragmentierten Gesellschaft, in: LuXemburg to clearly oppose racism and nationalism, No. 4/2011, pp.28–34 Riexinger, Bernd, 2016 a: Wege zum Infrastruk- while at the same time entering into a tursozialismus. Für ein Neues Normalarbe- jointly organized struggle for equal rights itsverhältnis, in: LuXemburg 3/2015, 82–87 and living conditions. Riexinger, Bernd, 2016b: Für eine Revolution der Gerechtigkeit. Herausforderungen der Together with many active union LINKEN im Kampf gegen Neoliberalismus members and other progressive sections und Rechtspopulismus, www.sozialismus. of civil society, we are building a broad de/fileadmin/users/sozialismus/Lesepro- ben/2016/Sozialismus_Heft_05-2016_L4_ alliance against Germany’s rightward Riexinger_Linke.pdf drift. This is how the coalition Aufstehen Wolf, Luigi, 2015: »Mehr von uns ist besser fur alle!«. Die Streiks an der Berliner Charité gegen Rassismus (Stand Up Against und ihre Bedeutung fur die Aufwertung von Racism) emerged, which is currently Care-Arbeit, in: Fried, Barbara/Schurian, training ten thousand people to intensify Hannah (Eds.): UM-CARE – Gesundheit und Pflege neu organisieren, Rosa-Luxem- the ideological struggle against the AfD in burg-Stiftung, Reihe Materialien, Berlin, neighborhoods, schools, associations, and pp.23–31 workplaces across the country. The central challenge for the union movement and Die Linke involves, how- ever, the renewed sharpening of the social 1 Agenda 2010 was a comprehensive reform question: towards a struggle against the ul- package passed by the SPD-led government tra-rich and those who profit from poverty in 2003, which, among other things, made and injustice. Together with unions, social the labor market more precarious, retrenched the social welfare system, and reversed organizations, Attac, migrant organiza- progressive taxation. [Translator’s note] tions, refugee supporters, and antifascist 2 Also in the context of the economic and financial crisis, Die Linke was able to win 17.1% of initiatives, we want to put forward a new union member votes during the federal election initiative for the redistribution of wealth, of 2009, with the Social Democratic Party good working conditions, retirement winning 33.5%. By the federal election of 2013, Merkel’s CDU had achieved large gains among without poverty, good health and hospital unionists, and with 32.4% was nearly equal to the care, education, and affordable housing for SPD (35.9%). The Left Party won 11% – in view of all people. the internal party crisis at the time, a good result. 3 The concept was originally developed in discussions in the circles of the Rifondazione Translated by Rob Ogman Communista (see Porcaro 2011 on this issue).

Bernd Riexinger 21 »Feminism Is for Everyone« Perspectives for a Feminist Class Politics

B arbara Fried

2017 began with a global wave of feminist crisis and social inequality; anger at a protests. Opposition to Donald Trump’s society in which democratic structures election as the 45th President of the United and procedures are hollowed out and in States was expressed most visibly by the which ongoing pressures towards flexibility Women’s Marches – and not only in the US and market pressure are a daily reality for itself. In Poland, resistance to restrictions many, making it impossible to reconcile on reproductive rights by the country’s wage labour, reproductive necessities and right-wing government continued, while other wishes and desires. These »neolib- 8 March brought hundreds of thousands eral breaking points« (Goes 2017) are not onto the streets from Buenos Aires and actually solved by the Right but rather taken Istanbul to New Delhi. In Germany, as up so effectively that they sometimes appear well, International Women’s Day witnessed as the most visible pole of »resistance« demonstrations the likes of which we had to the status quo. With their mobilisation not seen in decades. against »gender mania«, »early sexualis- At the same time, right-wing parties ation« and »marriage for all«, they organise and movements are successfully taking up, massive assaults on the achievements of the articulating and mobilising widespread and women’s and gay movements, and against to some extent justified popular anger in anyone and everyone who fails to conform the ongoing organic crisis of neoliberalism: to the stereotype of a heterosexual, white anger at a society in which the needs of the »normal citizen«. By offering national-social many are trampled upon while obscene and seemingly simple solutions tied to an wealth coexists with growing existential allegedly homogenous and harmonious

22 »Feminism is for everyone« collective, they have pushed emancipatory pave the way for the Right’s success. Both forces onto the defensive. of these are of course not true. It is true, This constellation has brought however, that the Left has grown discon- renewed attention to existing praxes and nected from large segments of the working approaches towards every day, connective classes and unemployed. This is particularly and organising politics across the broader true of social movements and the so-called Left. In light of the AfD’s rise in Germany, »emancipatory Left«, but to a certain extend Brexit in the UK and Donald Trump’s also applies to the party and trade union-ori- victory in the US, the publication of Didier ented social Left, which is also mostly Eribon’s Returning to Reims in German confined to academic and professionalized translation also helped to push the question contexts and often fails to take up the every- of class back to the centre of the Left’s day concerns of many people in a way that agenda (see the debate in LuXemburg-Online speaks to them. This is not only the case 2016 and Candeias 2017), as relevant for overwhelmingly male workers in the segments of the working class expressed former industrial cores, but also for migrant their dissatisfaction with neoliberalism’s service workers and precariously employed unfulfilled promises by voting for right- knowledge workers. Left-wing praxes are wing parties. Why is it that the Right mostly not a point of reference for them. manages to operate as an articulation of It is not the case, however, that this anti-neoliberalism? What does this have to »alienation« is the result of too many do with left-wing politics in recent decades? »pink-violet-green« topics. On the contrary: And most importantly: why are feminism even today, feminist and migrant perspec- and the women’s movement – aka »gender tives as well as ecological questions barely mania« – so easily depicted as part of the make it into the canon of the political Left despised establishment? What does this (and only partially into that of the move- mean for future feminist responses – what ment Left). They are treated, sometimes could a feminism look like that takes on with good intentions but often in a these questions, or even formulates a delimiting and dismissive way as a bunch feminist class politics? of »hoopla«. A systematic interweaving of feminism and left-wing »core topics« The Left: Not Enough Class, remains uncomplete, so that »women’s Too Much »Hoopla«? politics« is often still viewed as a sectional The common criticism heard lately is that demand, unrelated to the critique of labour the Left neglected the social question by relations, the distribution of wealth and devoting its attention to »identity politics«. financial crisis. This division must be over- It spent too much time on feminism and come by pushing forward the development other alleged fringe topics, and thus helped of a feminist class politics.

B arbara Fried 23 Feminism on Trial whereby »diversity« has been reduced to an On the other hand, it is also true that the ingenious technique of neoliberal hegem- concerns of many »non-white« women as onic rule. It is precisely because of this well as women from socially marginalised reality that so many are inclined to accept backgrounds remain largely absent within a rebellion against the status quo cast as a feminist struggles – even those beyond struggle against the »musty 1968ers« and bourgeois feminism. The issues of the their alleged political correctness. women’s and environmental movements and the struggles for social acceptance and Feminism as an Accomplice equality of different ways of life (whether of Neoliberalism? LGBTIQ or migrant) have grown detached Nancy Fraser is probably the most promi- from the concerns and everyday realities nent representative of this (self-)criticism, of many people. Some of them were the foundations of which she already began »expropriated« and selectively integrated to formulate at the turn of the millennium into hegemonic projects – such as demands (2001, see also Haug 1998). She sharpened for gender quotas in the boards of major her argument in the wake of the Trump German corporations, diversity programs shock, speaking of feminism’s »complicity« for executive personnel, as well as a parental with »progressive neoliberalism« (2017), allowance that disproportionately benefits allowing itself to be taken over without high-earning families. This made them resistance and thus separating justice from appear more like attempts to provide careers diversity, the latter reduced to a neoliberal to highly-qualified, flexible individuals and individualistic husk. This circumstance ready to perform, effectively turning them calls for fundamental renewal. Sarah into projects of the elite (see Hajek 2017). Leonard, editor of The Nation and a feminist In this process, parts of the movements activist in the US, sees in the current crisis named above were painted into the corner and in the American context more generally of the politics of recognition, and neglected the need, but also the chance, to reformulate to conceive their concerns systematically as feminist politics by developing a »feminism questions of social justice, to discuss pover- for the 99 percent« (2017). ty, social exclusion and marginalisation as In the process of exploring per- central moments of racism and sexism, and spectives for an inclusive feminism, we to analyse gender relations as a social and must (self-)critically reflect upon the economic structural category. mechanisms of passive revolution and It is for this same reason that the neoliberal integration sketched out above, gains in emancipation and freedom won albeit without dramatically dismissing all by various social movements were so hitherto existing feminist praxes as Fraser’s easily integrated into the neoliberal project, diagnosis sometimes seems to suggest.

24 »Feminism is for everyone« Not only were significant steps made worth rebellion against moments of neoliberal- defending, but there were and are always ism’s selective integration? other, subaltern forms of feminist struggles Arlie Russel Hochschild’s most recent which were often viewed as something of book, Strangers in Their Own Land, takes on a kill-joy in the era of business feminism precisely these questions. Based on conver- embodied by Hillary Clinton in the US sations with Trump voters in the Mississippi and Kristina Schröder in Germany, and Delta, she describes how many felt »slapped thus often confined to the margins. In in the face« at »the entrance gate to the many of the conflicts occurring here, social middle class« (2016). In this worldview, questions are indivisibly tied to racist dis- social mobility resembles a seemingly crimination and gender disparities: whether endless queue in which one waited patiently autonomous women’s shelters, projects for years while others constantly skip ahead. against sexual violence, anti-racist/feminist It is always the Other which neoliberalism organisations like the Respect Network, allows to jump forward at the decisive mo- the self-organisation of women refugees, ment – or at least, that is how it is perceived. as well as countless groups conceiving of The justifiable anger of many at not having themselves as alternatives to the main- »their turn« after so many unfulfilled prom- stream gay and lesbian movement. These ises is channelled into a conformist revolt kinds of praxes must be sought out and against those who actually or usually only engaged in a serious dialogue while also imaginedly or merely symbolically profited further developing our own politics, rather from neoliberalism. than risk obscuring them in our critique. In the early 1980s, the Projekt Sozialistischer Feminismus published a text Why Anti-Feminism Attracts on gender relations and socialist women’s Social Discontent politics, arguing that the movement’s »vic- Equally if not more important, however, tories carry the markings of the social order is understanding why so many people under which they were achieved.« With view seem willing to oppose the curse of to the proletarian defence of nuclear family authoritarian neoliberalism in the form relations as discussed at the time, they went of anti-feminism. Why is frustration with on, »every piece of privacy is also an escape the system so easily attributed to »gender from capitalist relations of production […] mainstreaming« and »marriage for all«, The defence of women’s oppression [as turned against those who actually or housewives] would thus be an element of usually only allegedly have profited from a specific form in which the working class it? What desires of the subaltern classes opposes capital« (PSF 1984, 83). are being tapped into here, and to what Looking at today’s situation against extent does this also express moments of this backdrop, the modern version of

B arbara Fried 25 this clinging to or »reclaiming« of the less must take this oppositional nature heterosexual nuclear family by the Right seriously. Otherwise, we will never be able could (also) be read or deciphered as such to understand why right-wing and even an oppositional moment against the thor- conservative Christian narratives are so oughly economised way of life. There are attractive (see Hajek 2017). obvious gains in individual emancipation This observation facilitates another associated with the tendential dissolution perspective on the otherwise seemingly or questioning of the stagnant nuclear plausible claim that (queer-)feminism’s family characteristic of Fordism: both the demands contributed to the Right’s success. economic independence of women as It is neither true that feminists are at fault well as the legal recognition of same-sex for their rise, nor is it the case that it had partnerships – that is, a degree of de-het- nothing to do with the changing ways of life erosexualisation and freedom of choice in which were, at least partially, achieved by this arrangement – as well as, implicitly, the women’s movement. The feminist goal the notion that gender is ultimately a social of gender equality in neoliberalism replaced construction. At the same time, however, it the »unemancipated housewife« with the has lead to sharpened forms of increased constantly active and highly capable family pressure to valorise and a double burden manager. It is the latter, however, which pushing people towards exhaustion when today proves to be a burden for so many all adults are expected and forced to work women and men alike (albeit in different according to the so-called adult-worker ways), experienced as a functional shift model. Moreover, this means privatisation beyond mere economic pressure, including and individualisation, as the nuclear a devaluation of prior social roles and qual- family was not replaced with plural and ifications, destabilising self-confidence and socialised care arrangements, but rather emotional securities. Against this backdrop, with constellations of joint family liability then, right-wing ideologies of the family no longer necessarily based on lineage or can also be understood as a reaction to these genealogy. A »defence« of the sheltered changes, perceived as »feminist« rather than family space and with it traditional ideals »neoliberal«. That the Right manages to of femininity is thus an oppositional gather support for »anti-feminist« positions moment against pervasive neoliberalism, outside of existing right-wing and racist/re- unrestrained flexibilisation and society’s actionary milieus is partially due to this fact. ongoing abandonment of responsibility for the conditions of social reproduction. How Feminism Could Relate From a (queer-)feminist perspective, of (Differently) in Everyday Life course, this cannot mean calling for the When searching for new feminist praxes »defence of the family«, but we neverthe- and politics, we have to ask ourselves which

26 »Feminism is for everyone« experiences and moments of everyday parents today, stirred up by contemporary consciousness a class-oriented feminism domestic security discourses. Independent could relate to, as it is only through this lens but safe play seemed possible in the refu- that we can identify shared perspectives for gee shelter, unlike in her own apartment social change. The central question is thus: block. Here, an understandable wish is which desires and needs does right-wing articulated in the form of racist notions of discourse take up, and how could they be competition: »Why do ›they’ get that while interpreted differently, reprocessed and ›we’ don’t?« A discussion emerged about articulated in an emancipatory way? how to »create security« in the residential One example: in the context of area beyond meters-high fences. Who had a neighbourhood organising project similar fears and wishes? How could moth- ­sponsored by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung ers in the apartment block band together? (see Pieschke 2017), a neighbourhood Who else could keep an eye on the children meeting was held last summer under playing in the actually quite delightful and the motto of »What do we want to and green, but also open courtyard? what can we change in our district? What Struggles against (sexual) violence concerns us the most?« After touching on and for the right to move safely and several topics, the recently-finished refugee freely in public space are distinct feminist shelter next door (inevitably?!) came up: a concerns, and the fact that the Right always young single mother suddenly burst out, plays the children’s safety card does not »They have a brand-new playground and a make the issue any less important. So massive high fence around their house!«. why not think about how feminist debates Only over time was it possible to work out around »self-organised security« (see where her envious glances came from, as Brasselle 2017) can be conducted to move well as the notion that »locking in« the beyond left-wing scenes and relate to the adjacent refugees somehow constituted concerns of these mothers, as well as those an undue privilege. For this single mother of refugee women? A neighbourhood working full-time, a situation in which meeting like this is still a long way away children could play safely or even under from ending fear. What it shows, however, the supervision of security guards seems is that we as the Left have to make an effort paradisiacal compared to her lived reality, to find out which individual claims and in which parents must either be constantly desires can be articulated in the language present – which, given the packed day, of the Right. This is not always obvious. We means stress – or constantly worried that have to find forms of first recognising and, their five-year-old daughter could »get ideally, differently articulating and address- away« from the open courtyard of their ing them. This will require a great deal of apartment block – a common fear among translation work (see Steckner 2017).

B arbara Fried 27 meaning nor action-enabling form as a realm of experience. If feminism is largely associated with quotas in corporate boards and haughty-sounding language rules, but not with struggles against precarised work or for expanded social benefits for single parents, then it should come as no surprise when feminism appears as an elite project. The critique of aspects of feminist struggles can, against this backdrop, be formulated somewhat differently. Rather than arguing: the feminists failed to account for this and that, we should Conflict and development ask: which everyday experiences of women (non-white, socially marginalised, Feminism for All – Renewing Feminism transwomen, etc.) are not represented? The question facing feminist class politics And most importantly, through which is: which of the demands we have raised praxes, changed spaces of discussion and thus far relate to whose interests? And are coalitions can this be altered? we capable of communicating our goals in a way that they can even he »heard«? Who Is the Working Class? How can we orient our projects towards Intersectional Class Analysis representing the concerns of the many? Adopting this perspective, it becomes clear Here, insights from early intersec- that the widespread notion in the current tionality debates are crucial. Audre Lorde, debate of a contradiction between identity a black poet and lesbian feminist activist, politics on one side and social or class pol- for example, pointed out that »equality« itics on the other is an analytical dead-end, for black women was never a convincing not to mention incorrect in a double sense. feminist narrative, not least due to the These are not two different problems to devastating and blatant differences between be addressed separately, with the concerns women (1984). A debate on feminist of socially marginalised people over here, class politics can learn much from this and those of women/LBTIQ/migrants over notion, as it also reflects the experience of there. This alleged opposition is, instead, many women here: »These debates have itself an expression of the problem of both nothing to do with my life.« They construe a reductive class analysis and well as an a collective woman, which possesses no oversimplified analysis of gender relations

28 »Feminism is for everyone« (and racism). In terms of what constitutes B.C.lorio/flickr »class relations«, the dominant conception suggests that »class« emerges strictly in relations« (Haug) in all spheres of life from a narrowly-defined sphere of production. the outset, it becomes clear that gender is Often, this perspective is limited to wage not an additional, albeit equally significant labour. At the same time, the language of relation of oppression – as many debates class analysis lacks the necessary terms around race, class, and gender tend to with which to formulate the experiences imply – but rather a moment of class of discrimination which do not emerge relations itself, an arrangement with which (solely) from one’s position in the totality to organise the social division of labour of the relations of production, i.e. everyday and thus social rule. This always includes racist degradation and sexist debasement. the internal division of the class, for which If we understand heteronormativ- the ordering of gender plays a central role. ity and gender relations as »relations of Division into, for instance, those who per- production« and »fundamental regulating form unpaid care work and those for whom

B arbara Fried 29 this is generally taken care of for, or those of the class at the expense of others along who pursue a skilled occupation and those the way. who – for half the money – work in social services, and accordingly into those who Becoming a Class? Addressing the can continue to live well even after their re- Contradiction Strategically tirement and those who will not receive an A precise and up-to-date class analysis is adequate pension. These are all questions central to such an undertaking, but still only of gender relations and thus not forms of half the battle. It is not only decisive how the domination outside of class relations to be class changes and differentiates in the face incorporated into our analysis, but rather of high-tech capitalism, precarisation and an intrinsic component thereof. flexploitation, but also how class formation Similar is true of racism, which Stuart occurs (albeit through changed forms of in- Hall once described as »one of the domi- corporation) under these changed relations. nant means of ideological representation In reference to Gramsci, Hall emphasises through which the white fractions of the that »so-called ›class unity’ is never assumed, class come to ›live’ their relations to other a priori.« Rather, »classes, while sharing fractions, and through them to capital certain common conditions of existence, are Itself« (1980, 341). He analyses racism also crosscut by conflicting interests, his- as a form with which white workers are torically segmented and fragmented in this integrated into the ruling project and their actual course of historical formation. Thus support for this project is organised. In this the ›unity’ of classes is necessarily complex arrangement, incorporation or rather sup- and has to be produced« (1996, 423). port is exchanged for privileges, freedoms, The question of this »making of and certain life opportunities denied to class« (E.P. Thompson) expands our others – thereby pitting the »incorporated« perspective for today’s debates: if this class in opposition to other parts of the class. struggle necessarily presupposes the class, This stratification of class relations how can we ensure that it actually comes through incorporation and division along together in struggles, in order to end categories of skin colour or gender sets the oppression and thus became a »class for bar for solidary action quite high indeed. itself« (Marx)? Which praxes and politics Yet this is precisely what the goal of a fem- are capable of this? How must they be inist or intersectional class politics must constituted, particularly under conditions be: asking what kinds of politics enable the in which the subaltern lacks both a com- overcoming of these relations, meaning mon language and often understanding of »all relations in which man is a debased, common interests, and in which everyday enslaved, abandoned, despicable essence« life provides practically no spaces of en- (Marx), without empowering some parts counter, of shared ways of life in which to

30 »Feminism is for everyone« experience and develop shared concerns? need for a temporary – that is, strategic – What could be a point of reference for essentialisation (Spivak 1990, see also collective action in such a situation? Bringmann 2017). Politics or praxes into which all relations of domination are condensed Connective Perspectives, and can be resolved in one swift blow do Popular Praxes and the Unlearning not exist. It remains to be seen what the of Privilege shared, activity-guiding issue will be in any Developing a feminist class politics must given situation, how it can be formulated confront this double bind. For our debates, collectively and in a way that produces not that has to first mean sharpening our eye exclusive solidarity, but rather unity in for internal differences. In this regard, difference. both Marxist class-analysis as well as large The question of how common parts of feminism exhibit major lacunae. interests can be produced in differing This also means becoming aware of one’s contexts in a way that facilitates collection own internalised privileges and perspec- action was always a central question for the tively »unlearning« (Spivak) them through labour movement, reformulated by Gayatri a painful process, in order to truly become Chakravorty Spivak as »strategic essen- connected. This entails taking the debates tialism« in the 1980s from a feminist/ of post-colonial feminism into account in a post-colonial perspective, as part of her fundamental way (see Becker 2017). At the critique of class reductionism and Western same time, the various dimensions of the feminism. Spivak proceeded from the production and reproduction of domi­ dilemma that political (self-)representation nation are never to be addressed »totally«. without the formulation of collective On the contrary – the goal formulated subjects will not succeed, as unity »in above of understanding and addressing action« is necessary in order to challenge domination in an intersectional manner so existing relations of power. Such collective as to avoid producing new exclusions runs subjects, in turn, are linked to essentiali- the risk of being politically debilitating, as sation. The extent to which commonalities no political praxis can fulfil this aspiration are created along certain experiences also entirely. Popular politics can hardly be increases the danger that other experienc- developed in this way. es, particularly differences within a group, So how could it work? Strategies of will be ignored, thereby creating potential transformation cannot be developed in (new) exclusions. This applies to both »the a vacuum, but rather must relate to and class« as well as »the women«. In order intervene in existing struggles, controver- to become capable of action in the first sies and movements. Various already-ex- place, however, we cannot circumvent the isting feminist practices and demands

B arbara Fried 31 Chris Beckett only rudimentarily. Our job is to develop it concretely in a common struggle for space must be investigated to determine which to satisfy a wide variety of wants and needs. concerns are already contained therein This direction has emerged in debates and where they could be »enriched« with around perspectives for feminist organising a class perspective, but also how to avoid in care struggles over recent years. For systematic marginalisation or exclusion. example, the demand for cost-free and dem- The totality of different experiences does ocratically organised social infrastructure not necessarily have to be reflected in all in all spheres of care has been established demands and politics at all times, but rather and developed as a common perspective must be incorporated into the horizon of (see Winker 2015, Fried and Schurian 2016, collective action, in the social conditions to and many more). Here, incipient traces of be created by a democratic commonality a feminist class politics can be found, albeit (see Demirovic 2017). To the extent that generally discussed with different terminol- such a perspective exists today, it does so ogy. In discussions and politics emerging

32 »Feminism is for everyone« from the Care Revolution network, the decision was made to prioritise feminist organising in a field whose struggles in home and care work constitute a central field of feminist movements. Moreover, privatisation and market pressure become experienceable in everyday life here, where racist division and discrimination play a central role in the face of the international division of labour and »global care chains« (Hochschild). Finally, it has also constituted a centre of trade union struggles in recent years. These strategic reflections shared the goal of developing a popular feminist politics that incorporates everyday concerns Linksfraktion/flickr and struggles for concrete improvements while simultaneously pursuing a funda- as precarious as the right to end unwanted mental re-ordering of gender arrangements pregnancies for many women, particularly and modes of production and life. Such indigenous and black (see Hentschel 2017). concrete, connective politics are very chal- Accordingly, reproductive justice must also lenging indeed, but several obstacles have incorporate the right to children. already been tackled (see UmCare 2016 and In the spirit of a feminist class politics, Fried and Schurian 2016, 2017). we must take up this thought and add anoth- How such a popular class-oriented er perspective: here and there, struggles for (and post-colonial/anti-racist) feminism sexual self-determination for both indig- could look has been further developed by enous and black as well as many socially an ongoing debate in the United States for marginalised »white« women must include several years. The movement for »reproduc- fighting for conditions under which it is tive justice« criticises contemporary feminist truly possible for everyone to have children practices around the topic of sexual self-de- if and how they choose. This means not only termination – a central field of feminist birth, but also securing childrearing socially, struggle – as reductive. From the perspective which means that adequate labour relations of non-white women, they formulate, among as well as modes of living, de-precarisation, other things, the necessity and possibility of guidance, child care, education opportunities focusing on more than unrestricted access and much more must be incorporated into to abortion. Due to racism and eugenics the political horizon of feminist struggles policies, the right to bear children is equally for sexual self-determination. Only if these

B arbara Fried 33 prospects are available to everyone can we common point of reference addressed really speak of freedom of choice when it differently in different places and in comes to abortion or raising children.1 different fields, but with the common goal of shaping our conditions and ways of life In Spite of It All: Class as a Strategic collectively and democratically for all – and Point of Crystallisation with a clear sense of antagonism vis-à-vis In both hese and other feminist struggles, ruling politics and attempts to divide and then, we must explicitly incorporate or work conquer (see Demirovic 2017). out a class perspective without it becoming In this way, various movements dominant or understanding class questions beyond feminism can be cohered together as a priori in a traditionalist sense – an into a new class politics, in order to form a understandably common concern in debates »connective antagonism« (Candeias 2017) around feminist class politics. The task of a to neoliberalism, which also contests the class feminism (or a Left seeking to develop Right’s position. In the current social situ- such a feminism) must thus be to investigate ation, an inclusive feminism or a feminist existing struggles and demands to determine class politics appears as a compelling coun- where implicit or explicit exclusions are pro- ter-pole not only to an aggressive anti-fem- duced, or rather at which points feminism’s inism, but also to an authoritarian project class perspectives can be strengthened. »from above« and »from the right« as a This includes the important question whole. The fact that a movement opposing of how different parts of the class which both the liberal feminism of a Hillary should be involved in these struggles can Clinton and the government of Donald be won over – particularly those that are not Trump was the most visible thus expression used to interpreting their problems as class of such discontent thus far. In the spirit of problems due to previous feminist and the early theoreticians of intersectionality, other political debates, as well as those who we must renew our push for a perspective in light of previous debates around social of »feminism is for everyone« here, as well. questions are not used to thinking of their problems as questions of given gender re- Translated by Loren Balhorn lations. We must develop forms with which different concerns can be taken upand reformulated as questions of class, gender 1 Perspectives for disability politics can also be extended in a similar sense: the existing social and, in this sense, as shared identity. pressure to abort fetuses with foreseeable genetic Instead of class or identity politics, we »anomalies« or other disabilities can only be need class as identity politics – a politics effectively countered when the necewssary social conditions for living with disabled children and in which the overcoming of class relations people as such are secured. Only then can we in a non-reductionist sense becomes a speak of real freedom of choice in this context.

34 »Feminism is for everyone« References schaftskritik No. 86–87, pp.75–92 Becker, Lia, 2017: Klasse mit Differenz und ver- Hentschel, Susanne, 2017: »Linker Feminismus bindender Antagonismus. Herausforderun- gegen rechte Bevölkerungspolitik«, gen und offene Fragen einer feministisch- »Weltklasse«, LuXemburg Online-Sonder- intersektionalen Klassenpolitik, unpublished ausgabe, August 2017 draft of a lecture given at the SDS autumn- hooks, bell 2000, Feminism Is for Everybody: academy in Berlin Passionate Politics, New York: Pluto. Brasselle, Melanie, 2017: »Sicherheit von Leonard, Sarah, 2017, »Housekeepers versus Links?«, LuXemburg Online, September 2017 Harvard: Feminism for the Age of Trump«, Bringmann, Julia, 2017: »Strategischer Essentia- The Nation, March 2017, www.thenation. lismus«, ABC der Transformation, LuXemburg com/article/housekeepers-versus-harvard- No. 2-3/2017 (forthcoming) feminism-for-the-age-of-trump/ Candeias, Mario, 2017: »A Question of Class.A Lorde, Audre, 1984: Sister Outsider, Berkeley New Class Politics – A Connective Antagonis- Pieschke, Miriam, 2017: »…aber nicht ohne uns.« min«, in this LuXemburg issue Vom Hundekot zum Infrastruktursozialis- Fraser, Nancy 2001, »Recognition without mus, LuXemburg 2-3/2017 (forthcoming) ethics?«, Theory, Culture & Society, No. 18 PSF – Projekt Sozialistischer Feminismus 1984, (2-3), pp.21–42 Geschlechterverhältnisse und Frauenpolitik, Fraser, Nancy, 2017: »The End of Progressive Berlin Neoliberalism«, Dissent, www.dissentmagazi- Russel Hochschild, Arlie, 2016: »Donald Trump ne.org/online_articles/progressive-neolibera- in the Bayou«, TomDispatch, http://www.tom- lism-reactionary-populism-nancy-fraser/ dispatch.com/post/176181/tomgram%3A_ar- Fried, Barbara, and Schurian, Hannah, 2016: lie_hochschild%2C_trumping_environmen- »Nicht im Gleichschritt, aber Hand in talism/ Hand«, LuXemburg, 1/2016, www.zeitschrift- Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, 1990: The Post- luxemburg.de/nicht-im-gleichschritt-aber- Colonial Critic, New York hand-in-hand-verbindende-care-politiken-in- UmCare 2017: UmCare. Auf der Suche nach pflege-und-gesundheit/ neuen Strategien in Pflege und Gesundheit, Fried, Barbara, and Schurian, Hannah (eds.), Dossier der Zeitschrift LuXemburg, April 2016, 2017, UmCare. Gesundheit und Pflege neu www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/umcare-auf- organisieren, 2nd edition, Berlin: Rosa- der-suche-nach-neuen-strategien-in-pflege- Luxemburg-Stiftung, Reihe Materialien, und-gesundheit/ www.rosalux.de/publikation/id/8432/ Winker, Gabriele, 2015: Care Revolution: Schritte um-care/ in eine solidarische Gesellschaft, Bielefeld Hall, Stuart, 1980: »Race, Articulation and Woltersdorff, Volker, 2017: »For a Queer Societies Structured in Dominance«, Feminist Class Politics of Shame», in this Sociological Theories: Race and Colonialism, LuXemburg issue Paris: UNESCO, pp.304–345. Hall, Stuart, 1996 [1986]: »Gramsci’s relevance for the study of race and ethnicity«, Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, London: Rout- ledge, pp.411–440. This text was inspired by many discussions Hajek, Katharina, 2017, »Die Reproduktionskrise surrounding the founding of the Rosa-Luxem- feministisch politisieren«, Weltklasse, LuXem- burg Online-Sonderausgabe, August 2017 burg-Stiftung feminist discussion group with, Haug, Frigga, 2002: »Zur Theorie der Geschlech- among others, Lia Becker, Alex Wischnewski, terverhältnisse«, Das Argument No. 243, Kerstin Wolter, Mario Candeias, Katharina www.linksnet.de/artikel/18052 Haug, Frigga, 1998: »Gramsci und die Produk- Pühl, Silke Veth, Melanie Stitz, Hannah tion des Begehrens«, Psychologie und Gesell- Schurian and Susanne Hentschel.

B arbara Fried 35 »Asys1 go home!« Door-to-Door Visits as a Strategy Against Division

By Anne Steckner

In this conflict situation, some seek out together. With trained lay-interviewers, culprits who are apparently taken care of we went door-to-door and conducted without having to make the same effort: 379 conversations. The documentation »the immigrants«, »the refugees« or of these conversations provides insights »economic refugees«, »asys«, »welfare into everyday thinking about politics, spongers«, »bums« – sometimes also neighborhoods and living conditions at the »bosses«, »bankers«, and »politicians«. lower margins of society – a kaleidoscope What does that mean for the project of an of »the state of affairs in Germany«2 . immigration society based upon solidar- Time and again, we encountered racist ity, that seeks to – and must – include resentments and linguistic violence, even everyone who is marginalized, or at least on the part of open-minded people. But it feels marginalized? was seldom a case of solidified attitudes Engaging in personal conversation or closed worldviews. Frequently, they with people that one does not otherwise en- were spontaneous truncations or displace- counter, instead of just talking about them, ments present everywhere within societal can bring to light important questions discourse. At the same time, prejudices and insights. DIE LINKE was on the move fractured against real experiences, truths in twelve cities nationwide during the and falsehoods stood closely alongside autumn of 2016. On doorsteps, members each other, contradictions became visible. spoke with people primarily from low-in- Antonio Gramsci called this »bizarre come neighborhoods to discuss burning is- everyday consciousness.« »Challenging sues, and which problems could be tackled others precisely as far as possible without

36 »Asys go home!« rupturing the relationship« (Schrupp 2011) the importance the statement has in their is a question of practice. The left, which thinking, how entrenched the worldview often bears the stamp of academia, can is, and whether there are durable starting learn a few things here. points for common activity. Some people mean exactly what they say. Whether or Learning Processes on Both Sides not that’s the case, however, can only be Despite racist prejudices that arose in clarified by direct conversation, since conversations, there was, for example, people from low-income neighborhoods knowledge about the causes of flight and rarely publish articles and usually aren’t the role played by German policies. It’s invited onto talk shows. possible to start there. A convinced AfD3 voter from Dres- A retired woman from Leipzig-Gohlis den-Prohlis does not allow himself to be divert- brings up the supposed lack of work ethic on ed from his view of the world: »Deport them. the part of refugees and the arms exports of Dump them into the ocean, or shoot them. German companies, all in the same breath. German bums, too. Women who sleep with Her neighbor thinks that refugees should three bums.« If misogynistic-racist statements either »go home« or »integrate«, but had are stated with such clarity, it’s easy to draw »never had a problem myself with foreigners.« a line. We end the conversation, there’s lots of She also saw arms sales in civil war countries other doors waiting. as responsible for current developments. A Sounding out commonalities or ticket inspector from Essen-Frohnhausen drawing a line? That’s a learning process. believes refugees are criminal, and demands at One therefore has to step out of one’s the same time that wars must stop. comfort zone. Leaving the personal Analyses of the right’s increasing echo chamber, the Facebook bubble, the strength point out disconcerting shifts in intellectual »regular’s table« occasionally, the field of the doable and thinkable. But is an opportunity that cannot be underes- some debates about everyday racism tend timated to examine one’s own language, to take statements by people with little political praxis, and fondly held certainties. practice in sophisticated argumentation Knowing how things look »down there«, too literally, instead of taking them serious- and which coping strategies there are, can ly. Racism is not a question of education; help in developing a feel for the facets of a one’s mode of expression is. damaged life. The precarity of academics Understanding the »sense« that a with an abundance of social capital (and racist, sexist, tough-guy statement creates sometimes parental wealth) looks different in another person might take some getting than the poverty of the disenfranchised or used to. But, by means of attentive inquiry the fears of social descent on the part of and trenchant objection, one can find out the row house middle class.

Anne Steckner 37 we can’t pay for that!« Spoken to concerning his work situation, he answers that he can’t complain, his wage is sufficient, we’re talking to the wrong person. But then he lets the following slip: »The temp workers earn much less than I do, barely the minimum wage. But they do the same work. They should get equal pay, they deserve it.« We agree with him, and ask questions about pay gaps and the relation between him, as a foreman, and »the team« for which he’s responsible. From this moment on, the situation becomes more relaxed. He answers »yes« to our question of whether there are people on his team that haven’t been Furthermore, in these encounters, the living in Germany for very long, as well as topics discussed were sometimes of to our follow-up question of whether he gets secondary concern. The interest in a com- along well with them. Now we have a common mon conversation was decisive. Contact denominator: the notion that all who do the trumps content? That forces leftists to same work should get equal pay – regardless of expand their established terrain: the force their background or passport. At least during of argument, the sober reference to facts. the conversation, »this refugee thing« takes It’s challenging to build personal contact another twist and decreases in significance. with strangers in a short period of time – The point is not remaining silent sustained by empathy, if possible – while about racism, but rather to decode it in at the same time not losing sight of the a manner close to everyday life, and to political goal, and trusting in the fact that offer other interpretations. The sociologist people will engage with one if they are met Didier Eribon delineates this sometimes ar- with sincere interest. duous work: the French working class had already been racist and homophobic in the Offering Interpretations and past. But the Communist Party succeeded Shifting Discourses in making it a political offer that placed A 50-year-old gardener from Bremen-Gröpelin- class identity at the center of concern. It gen, who works as a foreman in a correctional channeled the anger of the ­exploited into facility, initially encounters us with reservation. a common struggle for better working He is convinced that DIE LINKE will »never conditions, and did not provide the space be in a position« to change anything anyway. for right-wing slogans, even if workers’ Besides, »you leftists take on too many refugees, parties are not free of racism and sexism.

38 »Asys go home!« »My little daughter only has Turkish friends. Harry Adler Parents in the daycare center distance them- selves when they hear that I’m a Muslim«, cutting across all this so important: along complains a Turkish woman (without a which interests can commonalities be hijab) from Essen-Frohnhausen. At the discovered and articulated, without denying same time, she demands a tougher course individual differences? Because money against »welfare benefit freeloaders«. problems, fears about the future or of social It’s actually banal: there are no descent, performance pressure, planning homogeneous groups, neither among uncertainty, and sexist comments affect ethnic Germans nor among immigrants. people with or without a German passport. People affected by racism can themselves But the knowledge or the experience of be racist, exhibit chauvinism of affluence belonging to the working class is repressed or be hostile toward the disabled. Disabled in the interpellation as a German or Turk. people can be misogynistic. Women can Before us stands a retired couple from be blind to class. That makes the question Dresden-Prohlis with classic »East German

Anne Steckner 39 biographies«. Both were working in the journalist Kenan Malik, »come to be the GDR, the fall of the Berlin Wall came in the means« through which many people per- middle of their lives. After the »Wende«, she ceive social problems. »The trouble is, so went through various jobs and employment long as we continue to scapegoat migrants ­schemes, interrupted by phases of unemploy- for such problems, we will continue to ig- ment. He suffered an on-the-job injury. Now nore the underlying reasons for […] many their pensions aren’t enough, they have to people’s sense of being politically aban- work for supplementary income. Recently, doned and marginalized.« (Malik 2017) their rent was increased. They initially Clearly and comprehensibly naming the reacted to us with hostility: »one gets called causes, without disputing the experience of a Nazi for marching with PEGIDA4. We our counterparts – that’s the challenge. But aren’t Nazis. But all the refugees, they get reactions on the doorsteps demonstrate: everything, whereas people like us...« – a very changing the definition of the problem, familiar argument. »Well, to my knowledge and thus shifting the discourse around most refugees here live at the poverty line«, is the »refugee crisis«, is possible at least our point. There is still no connection. How in small steps. Conversely, people with can one recognize the frustration, but frame small pocketbooks also spoke out directly what’s said in a different way and give the for more support for refugees. Openness discontent a different thrust? »We hear that or reservations towards non-Germans are a lot, that rents increase faster than pensions. thus not questions of income. Assuming you’re right and one wouldn’t give refugees anything anymore, would Building Relationships in the Face the problems you mention go away?» The of Division and Powerlessness question brings a moment of reflection into The experience of not having control over the conversation. one’s own life, of having no power to As a variation of this question, we ask shape things, was shared by many of our on other doorsteps: »When you think back conversation partners. There are different to the time before lots of refugees came. ways of dealing with this: »I won’t take Were things better for you?« Or, »who part anymore« (withdrawal, electoral profits from it, when we allow ourselves abstention) or »I’m voting AfD« are two to be played against each other?« Even of them. Making tangible the capacity though such questions don’t overturn to act in concert with others is therefore worldviews, they often create a rupture in a strategic starting point for organizing apparently seamless convictions. from within everyday life. This »struggle The experience of deprivation is real; for sovereignty« (Pieschke 2016) could be it’s just the explanation that’s false. Immi- a common denominator independent of gration has, according to the British-Indian background or nationality.

40 »Asys go home!« Suffering and affliction alone offer no way tory way? Can the left develop more of a out of isolation and passivity. Especially sense for pathos and emotion? Must it? since the intuition isn’t wrong: every And how are things with regard to places attempt at standing up and resisting of encounter that transcend class and contains the risk of failure. social milieu? Given the self-perceptions Due to his foreign surname, a 36-year- of distinction shared by the middle class, old unemployed man from Kassel has never forging the often-invoked alliance of the worked in a regular employment situation, middle and lower classes is not easy. The only as a temp worker. His repeated experi- heterogeneous class situations within the ence that »you can’t do anything anyway, precariat yield experiences of oppression that won’t change« has solidified into a that are widely divergent. Already-existing personal conviction that can’t be shaken up divisions are further exacerbated by the in conversation. Examples of successful political elite. struggles that demonstrate the opposite hardly convince him. Political Efficacy from the Left How can one convey to people with The strategy of »first speaking to the feelings of powerlessness that nothing has various dissident milieus that – on their to remain as it is, that people can achieve own! – articulate themselves in a politically something together, while the promise that leftist way« (Seibert 2016) runs the risk »everyone can do it, that’s why everyone that children of the bourgeoisie remain is exactly where they belong« roars from among themselves. Social engagement is every loudspeaker? Patience and sensitivity dependent upon education, income, and are necessary for fomenting new relation- living environment – a question of class. ships and pointing out perspectives within Academics, as studies demonstrate, are fragmented everyday life. Entering into overrepresented in all political organiza- conversation with others at all can be a first tions. Not coincidentally, one finds among step, especially since if one looks closely, those engaged in refugee aid – alongside one finds stubborn forms in which poor women and people with an immigrant people in precarious life circumstances biography – disproportionately many provide mutual support, indeed organize highly qualified and financially secure informally. people. Political consciousness is also a That raises urgent questions: how question of socialization. In any case, very can the left absorb the loss of spaces of few people simply articulate themselves solidarity and zones of security outside of in a leftist way »on their own«, especially the nuclear family? How can the need for not when the social mood threatens to community, security – indeed, for home– tip to the right. And if social conflicts are be taken up and fulfilled in an emancipa- supposed to touch upon property relations

Anne Steckner 41 one fine day: how should that be possible about the things that make her life hard: without the majority of those who possess harassment at the unemployment office, a lack nothing other than their labor power? It of child care, an apartment that’s too small. not only concerns the poor white male, We encourage her in the conviction that these but also involves the female, immigrant are real problems – while pointing out that all and educated proletariat. It’s a question of this existed before the increase in the number political efficacy for impulses from the left of refugees. In response to the later question of capable of effecting change. whether she’ll vote in the national elections, If the left wants to be more than she becomes monosyllabic. We venture to ask a cliquish lot, it has to win people that directly whether she’s ever considered voting for don’t participate on their own initiative – the AfD. Like a pistol shot, she answers, »well, but who can be reached. The fact that nah. I already know that won’t do anything!« precisely those whose interests must be We agree. We put her anger at the »asys«, of importance to the left are increasingly which she does not further explicate, on the withdrawing from politics and society has back burner – for the moment – and invite her a lot to do with precarious life. Within DIE to come take a look at a meeting in the neigh- LINKE, a discussion has been going on for borhood. She gives us her telephone number. A some time about how the party can root thin band that could become a link. itself in low-income neighborhoods and In many low-income areas, DIE LINKE accompany and strengthen their residents achieves above-average voting results – around conflicts relevant to everyday side-by-side with sympathy for right-wing life. Outreach conversations are a central slogans. But most residents don’t vote component of that. That has nothing to at all5. Furthermore, as is known, left do with social romanticism or a mystified positions have little chance in the media view of the supposedly vanished working crossfire. Personal contact, however, lies in class, but rather with the certainty that the left’s own hands. an emancipatory project isn’t one when Talking to people is necessary, but not proletarians aren’t part of it. sufficient. It can’t replace organization. A »The Asys [asylum seekers] have to »short-term flirt« isn’t enough, »long and get out, they should disappear!« is the first laborious relationship work is required for thing to occur to a young single mother in a stable base to emerge.« (Pieschke 2016) response to the question as to what’s of burning With the door-to-door conversations, the importance to her. She lives with an infant real work has just begun. Now we have to and a young child in a two-room apartment not only identify potential »neighborhood in a run-down prefab high-rise estate in Ber- leaders« (Hoeft et al. 2014), but target nau-Süd, near Berlin. While she stirs hair dye them for training, so that they can agree in a plastic bowl at the doorstep, we inquire upon collective forms of leadership in

42 »Asys go home!« which everyone can find their manner of com/2016/10/24/in-defence-of-freedom-of- participating. movement/ Pieschke, Miriam, 2016: Vom kurzen Flirt zur And therein lies the crux. In many langfristigen Beziehung, LuXemburg 2/2016, places, DIE LINKE has to struggle with pp.108–113 Seibert, Thomas, 2016: Rot-Rot-Grün: Die Arbei- structural problems: exhausted volunteers, terklasse wirdʼs nicht tun, Neues Deutsch- few activists in rural and small town land, 7.12.2016 areas, crippling »committee socialism«, a Schlemermeyer, Jan, 2017: Knockinʼ on Doors in New York, DISPUT No. 1/2017 concentration of resources for parliamen- Schrupp, Antje, 2011: Wie man radikal ist, antje- tary work. DIE LINKE is confronted with schrupp.com/2011/03/09/wie-man-radikal-ist the challenge of sustainably integrating the newly addressed, of how to divert 1 Translator’s Note: »Asys« is a derogatory resources for this, and of how the party term for asylum seekers in Germany, derived must change in order to become attractive from the word »Asyl« (asylum). There is no equivalent generally used term in English. to more people than the usual suspects. 2 For contributing accounts of such »And not least, there needs to be dialogs I’d like to thank Barbara Fried, a cultural transformation within the Katja Kipping, and Miriam Pieschke. 3 Translator’s Note: AfD, Alternative für party, until the insight that parliamentary Deutschland (Alternative for Germany): motions and talk shows are just one part of far-right political party focused upon anti-im- politics is recognized, and that democracy migration sentiment and providing a broad electoral regroupment of the far-right. presupposes a dialogue with the people 4 Translator’s note: acronym that stands (in whose interests one wishes to represent. German) for »Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamification of the Occident«, a series But you have to start sometime. Further- of anti-immigrant demonstrations occurring more, DIE LINKE can build upon valuable in Germany since the autumn of 2014. experience in this area from its history as 5 Contrary to sweeping assumptions, the »under- class« doesn’t vote with above average frequency for a party that knows what it means to take right-wing parties. It’s also not primarily the poor care.« (Schlemermeyer 2017, p. 17) and disenfranchised who vote for the »Alternative for Germany« (AfD), but rather »far above the average men, first of all, and second of all voters Translated by Alexander Locascio with an intermediate-level school certificate, that is to say, the tenth grade and Abitur [translator’s note: the Abitur is a secondary school qualification preparatory to a university education]. Those with References a Hauptschulabschluss [translator’s note: the low- Hoeft, Christoph et al., 2014: Wer organisiert die est-level secondary school diploma] vote at a slightly »Entbehrlichen«? Viertelgestalterinnen und below-average level for the AfD, and those with Viertelgestalter in benachteiligten Stadtquar- (half-)academic professional qualifications vote at a tieren, Bielefeld level far below average for the party. […] Members Kahrs, Horst, 2016: Wer wählt die AfD – und of the underclass without a perspective for escaping warum?, oxiblog.de/wer-waehlt-die-afd/ their own class situation – primarily the new ser- Malik, Kenan, 2017: In Defense of Freedom of vice sector proletariat – don’t vote at all, as has al- Movement, https://kenanmalik.wordpress. ready been the case for twenty years.« (Kahrs 2016)

Anne Steckner 43 The Impositions of Class Manifold Identities and Socialist Class Politics

By Alex Demirović

The recent success of authoritarian-pop- the living conditions of the overwhelming ulist politicians and the critique of majority by their own bourgeois lifestyle. globalisation, unemployment and social Such segments of the petite bour- insecurity they advocate has prompted geoisie most certainly exist, however they renewed attention to the question of do so alongside many others who partici- class. In Germany, this debate has been pated in the World Social Forums, support accompanied by discussions surrounding the transition to a sustainable post-growth the publication of Didier Eribon’s recent society, or are involved in the refugee book, Returning to Reims. From afar, movement. Perhaps the problem is more these debates could leave one with the im- that the left tends to fall into two camps: pression that the left had abandoned the those who are generally more concerned social question in recent years in favour of with questions of distribution, poverty, un- an exclusive focus on questions of social employment, wages and trade unions, and recognition and »identity«, e.g. questions those more interested in climate change, of gender and sexual emancipation, or the food consumption patterns, emancipation struggle against racism and nationalism. from heterosexual normativity and racism, This line of argument also tends to imply or democratic rights. that these concerns are the domain of the The left does itself no favours by urban, well-educated petite bourgeoisie, construing a dichotomy between class open to new communicative and cultural and identity politics rather than exploring practices while consuming expensive, their intrinsic interconnection. In fact, fair-trade organic products, yet blinded to many of the »identity questions« allegedly

44 the impositions of class unrelated to distribution also have material It would be similarly false to present the implications: sexism, for example, leads working class as a unified entity, though to the discrimination of women at the it is true that all members of the work- workplace and in partnerships, relegated ing class belong to society’s »collective to allegedly female roles, paid less, and worker« (as Marx calls it in Capital). often trapped in precarious employment. Although this fact represents a potential Additionally, women workers are often point of commonality and unity, shared subject to sexual harassment. Whether identities and practical perspectives do not health insurance pays for abortions and emerge from the relations of production whether these are performed in local automatically. The individuals and groups hospitals can be crucial, even existential making up the collective worker exhibit questions – particularly for poorer women. a wide variety of orientations in terms Racism serves as the foundation for the of their lifestyles and worldviews – for destruction of entire regions and the occupational or workplace-related reasons, hyper-exploitation of large segments of hu- due to gender and familial divisions manity. The ecological question – healthy of labour, national background, age, food, access to clean water, sustainable education, formal employment status and energy production or mobility – carries im- job prospects, qualifications, concrete job plications for more than just an allegedly and income, workplace size and position saturated petite bourgeoisie obsessed with in the hierarchy, religious ties, organisa- their own physical fitness and appearance. tional experiences and militant traditions, Workers are also affected when it comes to or membership in organisations like trade safe and healthy workplaces, air and sound unions and political parties. pollution, medical care or food quality. The collective worker comprises a Workers also suffer under conventional wide variety of people scattered across family structures and gender identities, the globe who collectively participate in as men and women with all of the social the material production of life. Never- expectations these identities entail. Many theless, this commonality remains cut workers are also gay, lesbian or trans peo- off from them under conditions of a ple subject to harassment, state repression privately-owned economy. The left does or (medical) violence because of their not exist by chance, but rather anticipates sexual orientation. It would be a mistake to a humanity conscious of precisely such a view these moments of the life context of commonality. The various currents and various groups of wage earners in isolation concrete forms of the labour movement from one another, as such a move risks and social movements are products of this narrowing our understanding of class and contradictory process of the organisation construing false lines of division. of the collective worker. They emerge

Alex Demirovic´ 45 organically from the historical necessities ally« composed, due to the key function put forward by a multiplicity of deeply regularly occupied by migrant labour. heterogeneous individuals with divergent By granting a segment of the »native« social functions, modes of living and and urban working class a supervisory attitudes, who seek to win their freedom function, a degree of command over the by forming a collective capable of acting work of others, better pay, better living and reaching collective decisions about the conditions and social mobility for their shape of our shared co-existence. Large children, the working class was hierar- sections of the historical left, however, chized and divided. That said, experiences have restricted themselves to particular of the many forms of difference, identity forms of industrial labour, namely heavy and modes of living prevalent within the industry and materials processing, which working class can also facilitate an enrich- led to a specific, naturalistic understanding ing expansion of perspective which, in of the material production of wealth in turn, moves towards a new form of class which toilsome physical labour occupied politics. This kind of class politics would a central role. Trade unions and workers’ be less about a reduction to one group of parties made this the central focus of their wage earners – industrial workers, the pre- organisational and political activities for cariously employed – or the establishment many years. Other forms of work (largely of a common class identity, so much as a performed by women) such as housework, perspective of a new mode of production childrearing, caring for the elderly, and and life, of the complex interconnection other forms of social reproduction were between different forms of participating largely marginalised. in the total labour of society. Here, three The left neglected to devote sufficient aspects are important: attention to how the working class itself is rife with and structured by relations of A | In the history of the left, the mistake power and domination. Marx addresses was often made of seeking a common this very clearly in Capital, describing how denominator to cohere different inter- men sell the labour of their wives and ests – so-called »objective interests«. Yet children almost as if they were slaves – yet these interests can be very heterogeneous Marx himself still failed to take gender indeed: job security, wage levels, equal relations, generational reproduction and pay for equal work, shorter working thus the entire spectrum of bourgeois hours, breaks, overtime or vacation influences on the working class through rules, qualifications and prospects moralisation of the family and sexuality for advancement, less pressure from into account. Historically, however, the management, a regulated normal working working class was hardly ever »nation- day and a degree of self-determination at

46 the impositions of class the workplace, tax levels, children’s job Jorge Gonzales prospects, dependents in need of care, private relationships, urban and regional not entail doubting the objective nature development, and many others. Not all of classes and class interests, but rather of these goals can be brought together in developing a different understanding of every phase of the class struggle. The left, material objectivity. Objectivity consists for its part, cannot afford to concentrate not only of one’s position within the on one aspect which it identifies as the relations of production and access to common interest of all wage earners in means of production; objectivity cannot be advance, as no such common denomi- reduced to economic interests and market nator exists, nor could such interests be positions. Instead, classes are determined objectively determined given the constant by the totality of economic, political, and shifts in the dominant contradictions and cultural relations and by their relation to struggles in the circulation of all relations one another. This relation is, in its totality, of dominance and exploitation. This does a relation of class struggle. In this sense,

Alex Demirovic´ 47 classes always encompass a wide range of general political incompetence, ecology, class practices, which are the result of pre- education, the family and gender rela- vious struggles and compromises between tions – but also the nation or »foreigners«. classes. These also include state practices of dominance (from legal framing of B | The left must take all of these aspects the right to strike, social policy, and the into consideration and critically address repression of left-wing organisations) and them as products of the capitalist mode ongoing discussions in political parties or of production. It must demonstrate its the media, as well as conflicts around the willingness to support adequate solutions socialisation of individuals, their modes of to individual problems, while continuing living, or their eating habits. to emphasise the overall tendency of social As the modes of living and interests development and the need for solutions to within classes vary significantly and are several larger problems: problems like en- subject to continuous change in line with vironmental destruction, racism, sexism, the capitalist dynamic, »class politics« is the accumulation of wealth by a select few, confronted with the challenge of taking and the burden of toilsome labour for the not only labour, but rather all aspects of many despite civilizational progress, which life and the class-specific practices of var- have continued to grow and multiply over ious groups of wage earners into account. the last 400 years. The only real solution Otherwise, the possibility arises that the is to change the organisation of the entire interests of only one specific group will ensemble of social relations in such a way be asserted and generalised. The danger that allows for everyone to fully participate of this leading to exclusion and political in the social decision-making process. inflexibility is obvious. In turn, class politics cannot be based on Of crucial importance, then, is a flawed reduction to the problems of a which aspect(s) of life can summarise particular social group or class, but rather and represents workers’ problems – in must enrich itself with the knowledge and which symbols, questions, and topics do awareness of dominance, degradation, and they see themselves and their problems destruction in all areas of life. and perspectives reflected? It is thus not a The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci question of finding the smallest common describes this social constellation as an denominator, but rather of which topics, historical bloc, an alliance of different conflicts, and developments come to subaltern groups with their specific modes symbolise the many problems of crisis-rid- of living based on various formulas. It is den social misdevelopment, as well as less a matter of radicalising and expand- one’s own exploited and dominated living ing spontaneous workplace struggles or situation. Such symbols can be taxation, waiting for new and bigger demonstra-

48 the impositions of class tions or electorates and party coalitions; despite freedom and equality, despite rather, such a bloc emerges from a shared democracy, are subjected to an all-powerful understanding of reality and the formation totality against which they are powerless, of a common will to change the totality of which they do not control, and which social relations. As far as perspectives for de-solidarizes them from others in society. the left are concerned, this means advocat- It is thus paradoxical: the left is confronted ing for the notion that desperately-needed with the challenge of arguing for the social changes (overcoming exploitation, notion that people belong to a class while ecological crisis, racism, sexual violence) simultaneously advocating for the abolition are impossible as long as the capitalist of all classes as a defining relation between mode of production remains in place. As humans – in the same way that it fights long as social labour is determined by the for the abolition of oppressive forms of market’s anarchic processes of supply and identity like »race«, »nation«, or »gender«. demand, the possibilities for solving major But that, precisely, is the challenge: social problems remain severely constrict- developing a critical rather than heroic ed. Too many powerful interests have a understanding of »class« informed by the stake in preventing such solutions. various existing forms of domination, in order to create moments in which the pos- C | Many people reject being labelled or sibility of freely shaping social relations labelling themselves into a specific class. emerges through the interconnection of Unlike in the case of gender or national other emancipatory tendencies. This sort identity – which humanity absorbs in of orientation towards hegemony obliges the form of centuries-old traditions and the left to address the various emancipa- practices of domination renewed daily tory perspectives emphatically and over and positively occupied by the rulers the long term, rather than instrumentally themselves – many treat class ascriptions or tactically, in order to work towards an as a kind of imposition, anticipating on an all-encompassing project of social emanci- individual and private level that which can pation. The left should work towards mak- only be achieved collectively and as a social ing an expanded conception of »class« and relation, namely the overcoming of classes the free, self-determined, and cooperative altogether. This is the historical goal of shaping and steering of social labour into the socialist movement: »the abolition a political-cultural, hegemonic symbol, in of the classes« (Marx). The difficult part which people recognise the possibility of of class belonging is that it is a coercive resolving the many urgent social problems relation, entailing material dependency on and challenges described above. others and demonstrating that individuals, despite all intellectual competencies, Translated by Loren Balhorn

Alex Demirovic´ 49 For a Queer Feminist Class Politics of Shame

Volker Woltersdorff

It’s rather curious. A book in which the are, initiated by Mark Lilla’s (2016) inter- author, Didier Eribon (2013a), vehemently vention, the »social question« and »identity demonstrates that we always also experi- politics« once again treated as two separate ence class relations sexually, and that there political issues that are either regarded as is a class dimension inherent to every form equally valid, or subordinated one to the of sexuality – indeed, that without this other, according to the assessment of each interrelation, one is not able to consider one respective review? Whose identity politics thing nor the other – unexpectedly becomes are being understood here as a legitimate a bestseller. The enthusiastic German re- social and economic interest, and whose views – with the exception of that by Dirck social and economic needs are considered Linck (2016) in Merkur – overwhelmingly special wishes for a particular lifestyle? To act once again as if one can be separated put it another way: shouldn’t it have long from the other. Often enough, they degrade been made clear that the point cannot be the author’s homosexuality to the status of struggling for either bread or roses, but a footnote to a class analysis untouched by rather that we want bread and roses? it. Yet the author himself asserts that shame Historically, the mutual disinterest is the mode of functioning of both sexual between sexual and gender emancipation and class-specific stigmatization.1 Why does struggles and class politics was not as pro- that not lead to sounding out the sexual nounced as it is today. »Bread and roses« dimension of shaming in the countless was the demand raised during a strike by professions of class-specific shaming textile workers from various immigrant following the publication of the book? Why communities at the beginning of the last

50 For a Queer feminist calss politics of shame century in the USA. It was later set to Coming Together in a Different Way: music as a protest song, whereby the roses Crossover – Classover? stood for all those needs that weren’t limit- Of course there were always people who ed to securing material survival, including brought their own class experiences into the desire for dignity, recognition, and (joie the movements for sexual emancipation, de vivre) lust for life. That’s why this song such as the »Homosexuelle Arbeiteraktion is sung in a scene of the film Pride (GB Westberlin«, HAAW (»Homosexual Work- 2014), which commemorates the common ers’ Action, West Berlin), in the 1970s, struggles of striking mine workers and the self-assertion of »Prolo-Lesbos« in the gays and lesbians in Great Britain during FRG of the 1980s, or the group »Queers the Thatcher era of the 1980s. for Economic Justice« in the USA of the »Brüder & Schwestern warm oder 2010s. Their marginal position within the nicht, Kapitalismus bekämpfen ist unsere movement as a whole shows, however, Pflicht!« – »Brothers and sisters, queer or that even there, the reigning class relations not, fighting capitalism is our obligation!« were those of society as a whole. This slogan was emblazoned on a cardboard But at least subcultures of sexual and sign held by the sexologist and pioneer of gender non-conformists, which used to be the gay movement, Martin Dannecker, at much less differentiated, allowed people to the first nationwide demonstration by ho- encounter each other beyond the limits of mosexuals in Münster on April 29th, 1972. class much more than is the case today. I The then-emerging second (West) German also probably wouldn’t have stepped out of gay movement engaged in many discus- my own educated middle-class bubble if I sions concerning the correct interpretation hadn’t one day perforce set foot in the gay of Marxism with regard to the homosexual subculture, just as Eribon in turn describes question, but remained stewing in its own, how this subculture paved his way into the rather student-influenced, bourgeois juices. bourgeoisie. But in contrast to Eribon, for It’s therefore hardly surprising that it lost me it took quite a while until I was able to sight of the class question when the spirit interpret this experience of social differenc- of the times no longer hit it over the head es as the expression of a structural relation with it. At most, proletarians remained of domination. My erotic desire was not a present as icons of gay desire, and as such hindrance in that regard. The difficulties became increasingly distant from the began elsewhere, for example, in trying to reality of class relations, because their being find a common language. I had to learn fetishized in the sexuality of bourgeois gays that my language, my being-in-the-world, is often enough not only an expression of had something intimidating, something fascination, but also of contempt, similar to alien, that caused our distance to increase. the fetishization of racist clichés. I had to learn to call my standards and ex-

Volker Woltersdorff 51 pectations into question and to accept that diversity were well-served within capitalism class is a structural category that cannot be after 1968. Their emancipation was the dissolved or transcended individually. result of struggle, not merely given, but If the gay subculture contained for me they found forms that were able to be and others a special possibility of expe- well-integrated into the »new spirit of riencing class antagonisms, that doesn’t capitalism« (Boltanski/Chiapello 2005) and mean that sexuality otherwise plays no role presumably for that reason were so success- in the experience of class. One need only ful. The neoliberal transformation of society think of the close connection between labor promoted namely »more risky« lifestyles, union struggles and working class mascu- which were pushed to the margins in the linity and therefore also of the interests of Fordist welfare state, with its rigid gender those who best embody the latter. Or the and sexual order, and which could now be link between notions of femininity and the instrumentalized as models of individual role of the bourgeois housewife. But family private risk management. Those who could and kinship are also magnitudes that do afford it profited from the flexibilization not remain untouched by class domination and precarization of conditions of work and in capitalism. Friedrich Engels, as the heir life, and could implement more idiosyn- of a factory who lived in a love triangle with cratic lifestyles. In contrast, the rigidity of two female workers, had already asserted heteronormative identities can guarantee an this in his treatise on the family and private alleged security for some, if they experience property, and this estimation has been re- their flexibilization exclusively as insecurity fined ever since in many feminist analyses. and the loss of privileges. Thus Christine Struggles for the equality of unmarried Wimbauer, Mona Motakef, and Julia with married relationships have also always Teschlade (2015) have observed that precise- been struggles around inheritance and ly those adversely affected or threatened by wealth, not just for recognition. precarization nurture a strong affinity for hostile attitudes toward equal oportunities. Sexual and Gender Diversity This constellation favors a perception in Neoliberalism in broad swathes of the population that Whereas class antagonisms have multiplied tolerance of sexual and gender diversity is a and intensified under neoliberal capital- project of neoliberal elites. ism, during the same period policies for So under neoliberalism, inequality sexual and gender emancipation have had and insecurity co-opt diversity, which considerable success. This has led to a means that differences legitimize and further widening of the rift between sexual naturalize unequal treatment. This is and class politics. After initial difficulties, demonstrated in an exemplary manner by it has started to look like sexual and gender so-called diversity management. Under this

52 For a Queer feminist calss politics of shame label, many large international corpo- should therefore be clearly naming and, rations have among other things made where appropriate, intensifying class con- the agenda of sexual diversity their own. flicts within equality policies, movements There is nothing objectionable about the for emancipation, and minorities such as recognition of diversity among co-workers the queer community. Although the critique and customers, but this pluralism of of power inequalities is currently being de- identities does not occur in a space empty nounced as an attack upon the unity of the of power relations. Diversity management community in increasingly difficult times, becomes problematic when difference urgent questions must be posed: which legitimizes inequality, an inequality shown material and social inequalities are being when difference is reified, misused, and normalized in the predominant sexual and exploited. Usually that amounts to the gender politics of emancipation, if private reproduction of clichés that are praised property and educational privileges drive when they pay off. access to new emancipatory achievements? That these victories of the LGBTIQ Why are only neoliberal success stories of movement were victories poisoned by media interest when reporting on gays, neoliberalism is demonstrated precisely lesbians, and trans*? The questions directed now, when within the queer community and at the predominant strategies of social strug- feminism new lines of conflicts have broken gles should not be any less uncomfortable: out concerning social privileges around the how much is sexual and gender idiosyncrasy status of racialization, gender conformity, regarded as a (decadent) luxury that should citizenship, or cultural belonging. The not play any role in these struggles? Which beneficiaries of the politics of emancipation relations of domination remain unconsid- of the last few decades have primarily been ered in the nostalgic desire for a return to those who were already privileged. New an earlier welfare state? Right discourses attempt to defend this inequality by deploying the (supposed) tol- Seeing Differently: erance of homosexuals as a defense against Multi-Dimensional Analysis attacks upon the privileges of the majority In order to avoid these mutual omissions, society. In conflicts over privileges, however, queer-feminist scholars and activists have class privileges are hardly focused upon. developed various perspectives on gender Correspondingly, class as a category is not and sexuality with which relations of class, even present in neoliberal human resource labor, and exploitation can be recognized management concepts of »managing and described as belonging together. With diversity«. This social difference can namely the concepts of »emotional«, »sexual«, or only be valorized through exploitation, not »gender« labor, they’ve expanded the view recognition. In the future, our concern of the demands of labor and the spectrum

Volker Woltersdorff 53 of exploitation. Although the sphere of multi-dimensionality opens up many points labor is regarded as de-emotionalized of access and could and can therefore – in and sober, we are nonetheless involved in the past and in the future – spur broad labor with our entire personality, and that social alliances. An understanding of class includes intimacy and sexuality and our politics complicated in this way is in my feelings. For example, Arlie Hochschild view appropriate in order to react to the (1983) and Rosemary Pringle (1989) contemporary situation of class relations, have shown how flight attendants and in which it is increasingly difficult and -po secretaries are expected to bring a certain litically decreasingly desirable to establish notion of heterosexual femininity to their the »unity« of the working class, since this labor, the surplus value of which can be unity would distort the underlying diversity. siphoned off: the willingness to engage Not least against the background of the in discreet flirtation, emotional sensitivity global division of labor and labor migration, and endurance, and all of this together Western states exhibit a contradictory sim- with a splendid appearance. But less ultaneity of privileging and de-privileging. traditional sexual and gender identities Most intersectional approaches repeat can also be part of a more or less openly the mantra of »race, class, gender«, but stated assignment profile, precisely where the examination of class in most analyses workers are expected to involve themselves remains rather thin. That’s all the more with their entire personality. Brigitta astonishing given that racist and sexist rela- Kuster and Renate Lorenz (2007) therefore tions go hand-in-hand with the exploitation speak of »sexual labor« in order to mark and reproduction of subalternity and social this particular labor expenditure, which is downgrading. So what could a class politics otherwise invisible as a personal contri- look like in which other struggles against bution, since it’s regarded as a »private domination are concurrent and coequal? matter« which supposedly has nothing to do with the world of work. Struggling Another Way: The keyword »precarization« has For a Queer-Feminist Class been tossed into the discussion about new Politics of Shame phenomena in class relations by various Alongside fear and anger, which currently political and intellectual movements. In its motivate political protest across the political intersectional usage, this term describes spectrum, shame could be a driving force the unequal distribution of insecurity and for an intersectional class politics, a vulnerability, which can have very different class politics that describes class not just reasons and dimensions, whether those abstractly, but as the concrete experience of are, for example, employment contracts, sexualized, gendered, racialized, handi- living conditions, or residency status. This capped, stigmatized, used, discarded, or

54 For a Queer feminist calss politics of shame even still abled beings. The reason being, ourselves to be infected by it. Otherwise, we shame is the feeling with which individuals risk dividing possible commonalities once react to the experience of social exclusion again along the lines of imposed domina- and devaluation, with which they are all tion, just like Eribon’s gay shame and class too often left alone. Transforming shame shame were separated. into anger and pride was the goal of various movements of emancipation – from the Translated by Alexander Locascio women’s movement to the Black movement as well as the gay and disabled movements, References including the labor movement. Shame Boltanski, Luc/Chiapello, Ève, 2005: The New is the reaction to poverty as well as the Spirit of Capitalism, London/New York experience of not meeting expectations, and (French 1999) Eribon, Didier, 2013a: Returning to Reims, Los is therefore the lived reality of many people Angeles (French 2009) affected by discrimination. Shame cuts so Eribon, Didier, 2013b: La Société comme verdict: much to the quick that it inevitably touches Classes, identités, trajectoires, Paris Hochschild, Arlie Russell, 1983: The Managed upon sexuality, even if its occasion perhaps Heart. Commercialization of Human Feeling, has nothing to do with sexuality. We have to Berkeley Kuster, Brigitta/Lorenz, Renate, 2007: sexuell approach this shame, since it prevents us arbeiten. eine queere perspektive auf arbeit from changing conditions. Shame robs us und prekäres leben, Berlin of the language with which we can name Lilla, Mark, 2016: The End of Identity Liberal- ism, in: The New York Times, Nov. 18, www. and judge the violence of these conditions. nytimes.com/2016//11/20/opinion/Sunday/ That’s why the feeling of shame makes the-end-of-identity-liberalism.html a political reaction so difficult, because Linck, Dirck, 2016: Die Politisierung der Scham. Didier Eribons »Rückkehr nach Reims«, shame leads to breaking off social contacts, in: Merkur 9, www.merkur-zeitschrift. whereas on the contrary, it’s precisely a de/2016/09/01/die-politisierung-der-scham- new commonality that’s needed in order to didier-eribons-rueckkehr-nach-reims/ Pringle, Rosemary, 1989: Secretaries talk – Sexu- organize a counter-power. A class politics ality, Power, and Work, New York/London of shame must therefore first of all enable Wimbauer, Christine et al., 2015: Neun prekaris- speaking about shame, creating inviting ierungstheoretische Thesen zu Diskursen gegen Gleichstellungspolitik und Geschlechter- conditions that don’t, as is usually the case, forschung, in: Hark, Sabine/Villa, Paula-Irene make a repetition of shaming probable, (Eds.), Anti-Genderismus: Sexualität und Geschlecht als Schauplätze aktueller politischer or which seek to prematurely abandon Auseinandersetzungen, Bielefeld, pp.41–57 shame in favor of anger and pride, as often occurred in traditional class struggles. Part of this is the readiness to recognize our 1 In his two volumes of essay following Returning to Reims, not yet published in own shaming in the shame of others, or English or German, Eribon further develops at least recognizing the latter and allowing this analysis (see Eribon 2013b, pp.15–92).

Volker Woltersdorff 55 Protest against brown coal mining in Germany, Ende Gelände – Tim Wagner

Ecological Class Politics by Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen

The Historical Contradiction which, as we now know, is significantly between Ecology and Emanicipation1 responsible for climate change – consti- Ecology and the emancipation of the tuted at the same time the material basis working class are, considered in a his- for increasing the organizational and torical sense, a contradiction. Or at least, structural power of the working class. that’s the case for the Global North. Local Workers used their increased power struggles for social and political rights, as in order to fight for political and social Timothy Mitchell (2011) demonstrates in rights to an unprecedented extent. The his book Carbon Democracy, considerably historical compromise between labor and profited from the fact that in the late 19th capital in the Global North – the accept- and early 20th Centuries, coal as an energy ance in principle of the capitalist mode of source began to play a prominent role eco- production by the working class under the nomically. Coal was extracted from central precondition of being able to share in the deposits and transported to its place of increased prosperity (or »social wealth«, as destination through infrastructure such as Marx called it) made possible by this mode railways and canals. Both the deposits as of production and, within the framework well as the infrastructure were highly vul- of liberal democracy, being able to partici- nerable to labor struggles. Strikes in large pate more strongly in politics – has to that workplaces by workers who were crammed extent a social-ecological downside: it is together and thus easily able to organize, based upon the destruction of nature as could paralyze an entire energy system. well as the externalization of the conse- The energy source coal – the burning of quences of this destruction in space and

58 Ecological class politics time: in space, because the carbon sinks a significant driver of climate change. that absorb the CO2 released in the Global The structural and organizational power North by burning fossil fuels are primarily of the working class, which arose out of located in the Global South (for example, the automobilization of developed society in the form of large rain forests); in time, under Fordism, was based upon ecological because CO2 emissions, due to their destruction as well as the oppression of sheer magnitude, overload the absorption democratic movements (in oil-producing capacity of earth’s carbon sinks, so these countries for example by an alliance be- emissions concentrate in the atmosphere tween political Islam and US imperialism). and cause the climate change noticeable In large parts of the Global North, today and in the future. coal mining is less important today, the With the increased importance of infrastructure tailor-made for it is partially petroleum to advanced capitalist accu- devalued. At the moment, the automobile mulation, the close connection between industry is sliding further into crisis. fossil fuels and social and political rights However, notions of an attractive life was weakened on the one hand, since the connected to coal and later petroleum and extraction and transport of oil is more the automobile, and the social compro- capital-intensive than in the case of coal, mises necessary to their realization, and furthermore takes place via a network continue to have an effect. They are of locations, pipelines, and tanker fleets deeply rooted in everyday perceptions and that is far less susceptible to targeted labor practices, the social balance of forces, as struggles than the centralized infrastruc- well as state institutions and apparatuses. ture of coal extraction and distribution. That is demonstrated in Germany not On the other hand, in many states of the least by the manner in which the labor Global North, the automobile industry union IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie – in ascended to the status of a key economic close cooperation with the ministry of sector. The oil-fueled automobile went economics of participating German from being a luxury product to a mass states – defends still-existing lignite product. It revolutionized the way of life opencast mines against closing them for for wage laborers, became the symbol of urgent social-ecological reasons. And it prosperity, constituted (male) identities and is also demonstrated by the current crisis granted the working class new resources of the automobile industry, in which of power in initially strongly vertically corporations, the state, and to some extent integrated manufacturing. The ecological labor unions combat the fundamental problem essentially remained the same. transformation of an ultimately imperial – Fossil automobility is, similar to the coal- because based upon the disproportional based generation of power and warmth, appropriation of nature and labor-power

Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen 59 (elsewhere) – form of mobility, albeit one From a left perspective, in light of the that in the meantime is being increasingly destructive consequences of an »imperial converted to electric power. mode of living« (Brand/Wissen 2017, So the connection between the eco- 2018), it’s indispensable to identify the logical question and the question of class points of contact between ecology and appears to take shape in a way that one can emancipation and closely determine only be solved at the cost of the other. And, the contours of an ecological class politics considered historically, it was ecology that (which we understand to be a constitutive was trampled underfoot, to the extent that component of a »new class politics«; see the social and political emancipation of the Brie/Candeias 2016). This presupposes working class was consummated and also disentangling the class question from its mediated by an intensified domination of social democratic restriction to the partic- nature: an increased use of resources and ipation by wage laborers in the fruits of an overstraining of carbon sinks. Today, economic growth, without therefore giving however, both are threatened with being up the level of social and political rights trampled underfoot. Capital production sets already achieved in the Global North. out, as Marx notes in Capital, to undermine »the original sources of all wealth – the soil On the »Family Resemblance« and the worker.« (Capital I, p. 638) between Social and Ecological The historical contradiction between Movements ecology and the emancipation of subal- The social preconditions for this appear terns thus does not necessarily rest upon a to be given to the extent that what Alain systematic one. The situation in many parts Lipietz (1998) diagnosed as the »family of the Global South has always present- resemblance« between social and ecolog- ed itself differently. There, ecological ical movements has increasingly come to destruction often does not serve social and the fore these days.2 The reproduction of political emancipation, but rather prevents the working class in the Global North still it and intensifies asymmetries of class and profits from dominant access to cheap gender relations. Conversely, social rights, nature and labor-power worldwide. And which shape access to and control over the socially and ecologically destructive land and resources in a more egalitarian promises of the imperial mode of living way, not only constitute emancipatory end still display a strong appeal. However, their in themselves, but are also the key to a redeemability has become increasingly more reflexive handling of nature. Ecology questionable for many. and emancipation can therefore indeed That is the difference between the stand in a co-constitutive relation to each Fordist social constellation and the current other, rather than a contradictory one. one, which some attempt to grasp with

60 Ecological class politics concepts such as »the society of downward predominant reaction to this consists in mobility« (Nachtwey 2016): not only the defending or restoring this threatened expectation of growing prosperity and the outside – and with it, the exclusivity indis- expansion of participatory rights proves pensable to the imperial way of life – in to be increasingly deceptive; even the an authoritarian manner: through policies maintenance of the given level of prosperity of sealing nations off from refugees and and participation is anything but guaran- the endeavor of keeping geopolitical and teed. The more countries such as China economic climbers down through trade or India develop economically, the more policy or even militarily. This politics of they compete – socially and ecologically as authoritarian stabilization finds its societal well – with the early industrialized coun- counterpart in strategies of adjustment on tries of the Global North for resources, the part of the upper middle and upper labor-power, and carbon sinks, the use and classes, in which the automobile and exploitation of which first makes prosper- automobility policies play a central role. ity possible; and this at a time, in which Hence the SUV boom – between 2008 the natural preconditions of this prosperity and 2015, the share of these cars in the are eroding to a hitherto unprecedented total of German passenger vehicles more extent. Moreover, the more the imperial than doubled (BMVI 2015, pp. 135ff) – can mode of living destroys the conditions for be understood as a symbolic expression life in large parts of the Global South, all of the endeavor to steel oneself against the more strongly does the readiness in- increasing social and ecological adversity. crease to escape them by fleeing, in order With the SUV, I can reassure myself of to personally participate in the blessings of my social position; I stand – or rather, patterns of consumption and production, sit – in the truest sense of the word above the costs of which have primarily been all others (as long as they aren’t driving an borne by those in the Global South. even bigger specimen). Driving an SUV is The current popularity of right-wing a gesture of superiority. It reinforces the parties and movements in the Global claim of being able to take hold of nature North, the expansion of security and and labor-power in a disproportional way military apparatuses and the permanent at a global level. Already the tank-like form attacks on central institutions of liberal of the automobile underscores the will of democracy can be understood as political its owner (or the social class to which he phenomena of this changed constellation. belongs) to defend the exclusivity of the The »society of externalization« (Lessenich imperial mode of living by any means 2016) threatens to lose its outside, and necessary. with it, an important foundation for What’s paradoxical about that is that processing its internal contradictions. The the phenomena whose consequences

Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen 61 one tries to adapt to as best as possi- questions of justice, the defense of »our ble – ecological crisis, increasing societal way of life« has become a class project. In competition, and exacerbated interna- terms of perspectives, it not only intensi- tional tensions – are first generated and fies the ecological crisis and imperialist strengthened by the form of adaptation competition, but also social and political itself. The automobile industry can be inequality in the Global North itself, in that understood as a thoroughly »paradoxical it creates the possibility for a few to adapt industry« (Nieuwenhuis/Wells 2003, p. to the increasingly rough climate at the 15) in the first place: on one hand, it is cost of many. The objectified ruthlessness characterized by the almost permanent of the SUV, with which the class conflict revolutionizing of management concepts, on the roads is once again being heated up production models, and product ranges; after decades of mass automobilization, on the other hand, its dominant position is an expression of this constellation. in the economic development models of It demonstrates that the prosperity and the Global North is as stable as the systems rights of many no longer depend upon the of industrial relations (and thus worker perpetuation, but rather upon overcoming participation) developed by it appear to be the imperial mode of production and living resistant to change. and its socially and ecologically destructive The SUV boom, which in 2009 elevat- consequences. ed the automobile industry out of its deep Since the 1990s, the class compro- economic crisis, since SUV sales com- mise in the automobile industry has lost manded above average profits, is to that its driving role in terms of comprehensive extent emblematic of the simultaneity of collective bargaining agreements. Agree- crisis and persistence in the imperial mode ments on employment and site protection of living. Moreover, it stands for a constel- no longer set trends for gradualist progress lation in which the class character of this and the constant expansion of class mode of living once again comes to light compromises, but rather offered a signal precisely due to the attempts to stabilize to other branches for the imposition of it in an authoritarian-exclusive manner. interest-driven regression. »That things These days, the disproportional access to are ›status quo’ is the catastrophe« noted resources, carbon sinks, and labor-power Walter Benjamin in his Arcades Project (p. worldwide only conditionally serves the 473). The catastrophe is a standstill, the processing of the class antagonism in »continuity of history«, the apparent stabil- the Global North. Despite all statements ity of existing compromises between social by right-wing, conservative, neoliberal, classes, of which only the shell still exists, and fossil-fuel oriented social democratic and which in terms of their content were re-discoverers of »social imbalances« and honed by capital’s interests in valorization.

62 Ecological class politics With Marx, we must understand cyclical upheavals is an insight that only dawns economic crises to be the necessary expres- very slowly upon people’s consciousness. sion of the contradictions of the capitalist In the current situation, ecological class mode of production, which constantly politic is therefore primarily a strategic chal- push it toward dead ends. Also with Marx, lenge confronting the social and political however, we must proceed from the in- left in social movements, labor unions, sight that »capitalist production constantly and parties, in order to overcome the strives to overcome these immanent »robust chain of fortresses and casements« barriers, but it overcomes them only by (Gramsci) around the dominant model of means that set up the barriers afresh and development. on a more powerful scale.« (Capital III, Marx had already identified in princi- p. 358) What is new is that the barriers of ple such strategic challenges for socialist capital have linked up with the barriers of class politics. In The 18th Brumaire of Louis nature to constitute a new barricade which Bonaparte he notes that »men make their can no longer be overcome by any solution own history« but at the same time asserts that »carries on« as usual. That’s why that »they do not make it under circum- it’s true that »Red is only possible with stances chosen by themselves, but under Green, justice only with ecology« (Thie circumstances directly encountered, given 2013, p. 12). This is the historical-social and transmitted from the past.« (MECW context in which ecological class politics 11, p. 103) That means that the path to a becomes both urgent and possible at the better future has to »fight its way out«. same time, and the historical contradiction (Abendroth 1982, p. 28) It is not itself between ecology and emancipation can be the overcoming of the reigning mode of superseded. production and living, but levels its terrain. The point is to start with experiences of Starting Points for Ecological inequality and politicize them, so that both Class Politics concrete improvements in the working Nonetheless, ecological class politics is and living situations of people as well as not at all automatic. It still seems more structural changes and breaks are made obvious, and moreover linked to less possible. In this sense, one can speak of a uncertainties, to defend the current »double transformation« (Klein 2013) or state of affairs. That doing so only more of an »offensive double strategy« (Brie/ rapidly erodes its preconditions and that Candeias 2016). these ultimately only become available to We see two reasons why this a well-off minority who can steel them- challenge is acceptable in the current selves against – or extricate themselves historical configuration, why it does not from – the forthcoming social-ecological constitute an »individual quirk« (Gramsci),

Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen 63 but is rooted in the »mines« laid by the old society, without which – according to Marx – no emancipatory perspective is able to detonate: »if we did not find concealed in society as it is the material conditions of production and the corresponding relations of exchange prerequisite for a classless society, then all attempts to ex- plode it would be quixotic.« (Grundrisse, p. 159) That’s also the case for transcending the historical antagonism between ecology and emancipation.

1 | »Upheavals take place in dead end streets« (Brecht) – according to the theory of the Regulationist school, a distinction can be made between a crisis within a socio-eco- nomic mode of development and a crisis of a mode of development, which cannot be overcome with ingrained practices. The latter expresses itself in the crisis of the automobile industry. The strategies for overcoming the crisis that revolve around extent irrelevant: no transmissions, no E-mobility are merely maneuvering valves, no crankshafts, no alternators, no towards another dead end, and further- turbochargers, etc. The de-materialization more overturn the last remnants of class of production in the Global North linked compromises that were still enshrined in to E-Mobility is already threatening the the Global North. The initiated capi- facilities of suppliers of internal com- tal-immanent conversion from the internal bustion engines. At the same time, new combustion engine to an electric motor strategic actors are arising within the will cause a dramatic shift in the existing »industrial complex«, and its structures structures of hierarchy and linkages of of compromise, that has up to now been the automobile value chain. With the concentrated around the companies of successive conversion of propulsion the automobile industry: new providers/ technology, central fields of competence competitors and new suppliers, primarily not only of final manufacturers, but also of storage and digital technology, with of central suppliers are becoming to some considerably different capital-labor

64 Ecological class politics relationships and working conditions. The Dave/flickr interest politics of final manufacturers is also reaching its limits: the Future Pact councils and labor union structures 2025 at Volkswagen foresees specific can be used to try to shape the looming Centers of Excellence for the new propul- radical structural transformation of final sion technologies at individual facilities; manufacturers in the same corporatist however, paired with a planned increase manner that has been deployed up to now, in productivity of 25 percent, 14,000 jobs bringing in one’s own suggestions – but in Germany are to be eliminated already only at the price of submitting to the goals by 2020 (see: MITBESTIMMEN! Zeitung of the business, which cannot be called des Volkswagen Betriebsrates, November into question from the subaltern position 2016). Even saving jobs no longer appears of »junior partnership as a backseat possible within the ingrained practices passenger, far from the steering wheel.« of workplace class and interest politics. (Streeck 2016, p. 58) Experience shows Of course, the existing power of works that increasingly rigorous concessions

Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen 65 wrested from workforces can no longer be tation entered into class-political conflicts averted in the usual (workplace) corporat- for the first time in the 1970s and 1980s. ist way. It’s also possible, however, that When redundancy plans became known the looming constriction of the space for in the British company Lucas Aerospace, workplace compromise will be used to highly dependent upon defense contracts, breath new life into the concept of a dem- the (various) labor unions at the company ocratic conversion. In this way, ecological constituted a common »shop stewards class politics can generate new forms of combine committee«, which in 1976 class solidarity beyond a tendency toward developed a plan to reorganize produc- »fractal« labor union politics, oriented tion – the corporate plan (thermal pumps, towards protecting jobs and facilities that ultrasound devices, hybrid motors). It is hardly successful anymore (Dörre 2011) was understood to be an element in the and tap into resources of power that were struggle for »the right to work on products increasingly spilled away in the old devel- which actually help to solve human opment model. »Unions need to reinvent problems rather than create them.« For themselves as social movements, not only the first time, a labor union struggle responsible for the working conditions of to save jobs was linked to a struggle to their members, but for their general living develop a new product range. During the conditions as well.« (Räthzel/Uzzel 2011: crisis in the West German shipbuilding p. 1221) industry, the first Arbeitskreis Alternative Produktion (Working Group on Alternative 2 | »The true barrier to capitalist production Production) was founded in Autumn 1981 is capital itself.« (Capital Volume III, p. at Blohm und Voss AG in Hamburg. Until 358) Interests of valorization and profit the mid-1980s, over 40 such workplace in automobility are today ending up in working groups were founded in West extreme contradiction to the material and Germany – not only in Bremen, Hamburg, ecological interests of human beings. Emden, or Kiel, but also in Nuremberg at Marx spoke of the »double character« of AEG. They followed the pattern of British labor as concrete labor producing use-val- praxis: shop stewards and works councils ues and abstract labor producing exchange activated all sections of the workforces value, where in the capitalistically and then worked together to come up form-determined mode of production, the with alternative production concepts. All concrete usefulness of products is merely working groups ran up against a structural a necessary appendage of its surplus-value barrier: the right of disposition by owners producing component. Today, a use-value of capital in the means of production, orientation of expended living labor resulting from existing property relations. appears more urgent than ever. This orien- The owners of capital did not want sover-

66 Ecological class politics eignty over production concepts taken out Globalisierungsdruck und Beschäftigungs- of their hands. An ecological class politics sicherung. Standortsicherungsvereinbarungen in der deutschen Automobilindustrie zwischen 1993 must also raise anew the question of und 2006, WZB – discussion paper SP III, pp. democratic control over production policy. 206–303, Berlin Klein, Dieter, 2013: Das Morgen tanzt im Heute. It can give the signal for (once again) Transformation im Kapitalismus und über ihn linking struggles for improvements in the hinaus, Hamburg conditions of wage labor with strategies Lessenich, Stephan, 2016: Neben uns die Sintflut: Die Externalisierungsgesellschaft und ihr Preis, for overcoming labor determined from Berlin outside by capital. And it can pave the Lipietz, Alain, 1998: Die politische Ökologie und way for a change of direction not only in die Zukunft des Marxismus, in: Lipietz: Nach dem Ende des »Goldenen Zeitalters«. Regulation automobile policy, but also blaze the trail und Transformation kapitalistischer Gesellschaften, leading to another mode of production edited by Hans-Peter Krebs, Hamburg, pp. and living. 59–76 Marx Engels Collected Works (MECW). London Marx, Karl, 1973: Grundrisse, translated by Martin Translated by Alexander Locascio Nicolaus, London Marx, Karl, 1976: Capital Volume I, translated by Ben Fowkes, London References Marx, Karl, 1981: Capital Volume III, translated Abendroth, Wolfgang, 1982: Die Bedeutung von by David Fernbach, London Otto Bauer und Antonio Gramsci für die Mitchell, Timothy, 2011: Carbon Democracy. Politi- Diskussion der Eurolinken, in: Detlev Albers cal Power in the Age of Oil, London/New York (Ed.): Kapitalistische Krise und Strategien der Nachtwey, Oliver, 2016: Die Abstiegsgesellschaft. Eurolinken. Fragen einer sozialistischen Politik Über das Aufbegehren in der regressiven Mod- in Westeuropa, Berlin, pp. 25–33 erne, Berlin BMVI, 2015: Verkehr in Zahlen 2015/16. Ham- Nieuwenhuis, Paul/Wells, Peter, 2003: The Automo- burg: Bundesministerium für Verkehr und tive Industry and the Environment, Cambridge digitale Infrastruktur, http://www.bmvi.de Streeck, Wolfgang, 2016: Von Konflikt ohne (30.5.2016) Partnerschaft zu Partnerschaft ohne Konflikt: Brand, Ulrich/Wissen, Markus, 2017: Imperiale Industrielle Beziehungen in Deutschland, in: Lebensweise. Zur Ausbeutung von Mensch und Industrielle Beziehungen, No.1/2016, pp. 47–60 Natur im globalen Kapitalismus, München Thie, Hans, 2013: Rotes Grün. Pioniere und Prin- Brand, Ulrich/Wissen, Markus, 2018: The Limits zipien einer ökologischen Gesellschaft, Hamburg to Capitalist Nature. Theorizing and Over- coming the Imperial Mode of Living, London (forthcoming) Brie, Michael/Candeias, Mario, 2016: Rückkehr 1 The authors hereby thank the members der Hoffnung: Für eine offensive Doppelstrat- of the discussion group on the »Future of the egie, in: LuXemburg, November 2016, http:// Automobile Industry« of the Rosa-Luxem- www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de (24.8.2017) burg-Stiftung for suggestions and criticisms. Dörre, Klaus, 2011: Funktionswandel der Gewerk- 2 In the 19th and early 20th century, the schaften. Von der intermediären zur fraktalen ecological question was already a class question, Organisation, in: Thomas Haipeter/Klaus to the extent that workers felt the ecological and Dörre (Eds.): Gewerkschaftliche Modernisi- health consequences of industrialization in their erung, Wiesbaden, 267–301 workplaces and neighborhoods more strongly Jürgens, Ulrich/Krzywdzinski, Martin, 2006: than members of the middle and upper classes.

Bernd Röttger and Markus Wissen 67 Authors

Mario Candeias is director of the Institute WASG, one of the two predecessor parties for Critical Social Analysis of the Rosa-­ of DIE LINKE. Luxemburg-Stiftung and co-founder of the Luxemburg Magazine. Bernd Röttger is a social scientist, author, and lecturer at the University of Vienna, as Alex Demirović is a philosopher and social well as a member of the editorial board of scientist and one of the most feisty leftist Das Argument. intellectuals. He has tought, inter alia, at the Universities of Frankfurt am Main and Anne Steckner is a social scientist and Berlin, is a board member at the Rosa-Lux- works in the department of strategie and emburg-Stiftung (RLS), a fellow of the Insti- basic policy issues of the national office of tute for Critical Social Analysis of the RLS, DIE LINKE. and a founding member of this journal. Under the aegis of the Institut Solidarische Markus Wissen is engaged in particular Moderne, he participates in discussions with processes of social-ecological trans- concerning a Red-Red-Green crossover. formation. Since 2012, he is a professor of social sciences at the Berlin School of B arbara Fried is the managing editor of Economics and Law. His most recently the Luxemburg Magazine and deputy published book is Imperiale Lebensweise director of the Institute for Critical Social (Imperial Way of Life), which he co-wrote Analysis of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung. with Ulrich Brand. She’s active in the network Care Revo- lution and deals with questions of care Volker Woltersdorff is an organic farmer work, struggles around social reproduc- in the Berlin suburbs and honorary queer tion and feminism. theorist. He deals with numerous thematic fields: sexuality, gender and domination, Bernd Riexinger is co-chair of the party subcultural aesthetics as well as the DIE LINKE and a passionate trade unionist. intersectional analysis of heteronormativ- During his time as managing director of ity and capitalism. At the moment, he’s the Stuttgart district office of the service working on a project on the pedo-question union ver.di, he pushed the develop- in the gay and lesbian movement. Among ment of an activist and democratic strike other things, he has published, along with culture, and boosted the number of strike Nikita Dhawan, Antke Engel and Christoph days. He was active in the social forum F.E. Holzhey, »Social Justice and Desire: movement and is a co-founder of the Queering Economy« (2015).

68 authors This brochure is a compilation of articles taken from various issues of the LuXemburg Magazine and LuXemburg Online.

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Luxemburg. Gesellschaftsanalyse und linke Praxis ISSN 1869-0424

Publisher: Board of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Managing Editor: Barbara Fried, [email protected], Tel: +49 (0)30 443 10-404

Editorial Board: Harry Adler, Michael Brie, Hanno Bruchmann, Mario Candeias, Alex DemiroviĆ, Barbara Fried, Corinna Genschel, Tilo Hase, Henning Heine, Christina Kaindl, Ferdinand Muggenthaler, Stefanie Kron, Uwe Michel, Tadzio Müller, Miriam Pieschke, Katharina Pühl, Rainer Rilling, Thomas Sablowski, Hannah Schurian, Ingar Solty, Moritz Warnke und Florian Wilde

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Title picture: »Defend Dignity« by Shepard Fairey NEW CLASS POLITICSA C onnective Antagonism Mario CanDied eiasLINK E| Aasnne pa Srtecty okfne tra | dBee runniond Rie rxenewalinger | Barbara fried | alex demirFeminismovic | Vol isk efro rwolte everyronesdo rff | Bernd Rött- ger | Markus WissenThe impositions of Class Canvassing against dividing politics Queer feminist Class politics of shame Ecological Class politics

4 New Class politics