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Communities of Resistance: Writings on Black Struggles for Socialism
‘There is no socialism after liberation, socialism is the process through which liberation is won.’ Each of the essays in Communities of Resistance acts as a critical reaffirmation of socialist politics as the context for questions of race and resistance.
The left itself is under scrutiny here—from a black perspective. A series of powerful interventions covers many of the issues which have confronted radical politics in the 1980 inner-city uprisings, the demand for black sections in the Labour Party, local government anti-racism, the move to a common European market. This collection included incisive critiques of contemporary Marxism (‘All that Melts into Air is The Hokum of “New Times” ’), of post-colonial development, and of the Eurocentric assessment of imperialism.
The left itself is under scrutiny here—from a black perspective. A series of powerful interventions covers many of the issues which have confronted radical politics in the 1980 inner-city uprisings, the demand for black sections in the Labour Party, local government anti-racism, the move to a common European market. This collection included incisive critiques of contemporary Marxism (‘All that Melts into Air is The Hokum of “New Times” ’), of post-colonial development, and of the Eurocentric assessment of imperialism.
262 pages, Paperback
First published December 17, 1990
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About the author
Ambalavaner Sivanandan
17 books31 followersAmbalavaner Sivanandan is director of the Institute of Race Relations and editor of Race & Class. His fiction includes When Memory Dies, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize and winner of the Sagittarius Prize, and Where the Dance Is, both published by Arcadia Books.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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March 18, 2021Incredible, brutal assessment of both Thatcherite and labour attempts to patch up race relations in the UK. His economic assessment of imperialism is fantastic and its relationship to racism. So significant, but sadly underrated (perhaps his criticisms of New Times 'Marxism' as well as dem-soc labourism left him intellectually homeless)
May 27, 2021
A collection of essays from the 1980s, the writing is rooted in and reflects the historical context while also offering critiques of race discourses that are depressingly relevant t0 the modern day. I picked it up mainly as an insight into perspectives on the history of both socialism and the black liberation movement in the UK, and though the book does offer that the main focus is less on events and more on developing a political theory which recognises how race and class are inseparable.
The essays are all good but the structure of the anthology does lead to repetition and some are focused on developments which seem of much less relevance now so may be of less interest to general readers. I found the critiques offered of "multiculturalism" - cynically pushed by the state to intentionally fracture a movement geared around the idea of political blackness in order to refocus the debate from institutional racism to individualised racism - in the essay "RAT and the Degradation of Black Struggle" to be one of the highlights of the book, though "New Circuits of Imperialism" is also very powerful (if more familiar an argument to me). I'd recommend reading those two specifically if you can find them online or get the book in a library.
The essays are all good but the structure of the anthology does lead to repetition and some are focused on developments which seem of much less relevance now so may be of less interest to general readers. I found the critiques offered of "multiculturalism" - cynically pushed by the state to intentionally fracture a movement geared around the idea of political blackness in order to refocus the debate from institutional racism to individualised racism - in the essay "RAT and the Degradation of Black Struggle" to be one of the highlights of the book, though "New Circuits of Imperialism" is also very powerful (if more familiar an argument to me). I'd recommend reading those two specifically if you can find them online or get the book in a library.
April 9, 2023
As I'm trying to get the annotations from the e-reader onto my laptop, they somehow removed all of them, devastated!
Reading Sivanandan has been a long time coming and I'm glad to say that I have finally read a collection of his essays. One of his more famous essays, 'All that Melts into Air Is Solid:
The Hokum of New Times,' is included. This essay criticises Marxism Today's 'New Times' from 1988 and mainly criticises that and Stuart Hall's contributions. It is definitely one of the strongest essays included and summarises a lot of Sivanandan's points on identity politics and the necessity of class struggle in various movements, something that was fleeting from the rise of New Labour and the 'end of history' from the 90s and onwards. I think one thing I do agree with Hall on was the ways in which consumerism affects everyone, even those who cannot afford it. That feels much more pertinent now, even with Sivanandan's criticisms on those who aren't even in that position.
One thing about this is how British socialists read Sivanandan and don't really seem to grasp what he is saying. It can be a bit off-putting reading about his criticisms of identity politics (especially nowadays when so-called socialists use it to legitimise their own bigotry and chauvinism), however one thing throughout is how much he emphasises the contributions of Afro-Caribbean and Asian women in various community and political struggles in the 70s and 80s, holding out as other forms of black political organising were falling apart. Even without that, he is very explicit in these essays on the vast, rich contributions of social movements alongside class struggle, such as when he mentions Eurocommunism and how: 'The working class, as a consequence, was stripped of its richest political seams – black, feminist, gay, green etc. – and left, in the name of anti-economism, a prey to economism.'
Most of the other essays all share a similar tone on his thoughts on ethnicity, RAT (Racism Awareness Training) and the case study of a white headteacher (Maureen McGoldrick) in a school in Brent and Black Sections in the Labour Party. They're all mentioned in many chapters, with each essay focusing more on one or two of these specifically. It can make some of the essays feel a bit dated or difficult to utilise without a strong awareness on how to apply this to contemporary situations in organising and politics. Some of his other essays, such as 'Racism 1992' are incredibly strong, with the first passage reading like something today: 'There is a new racism emerging from the interstices of the old – less visible, more virulent, open to fascism and European – a racism directed against the migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers displaced from their own countries by the depredations of international capital.'
The final chapter on Sri Lanka can feel a bit too distinct from the rest of the book, still it's a strong chapter with a lot on information on the situations there at the time of writing. It helps to situate how Sivanandan's thoughts on identity politics would emerge from his life there to being a librarian at the Institute of Race Relations to eventually taking over and establishing the journal Race and Class (where many of these essays were first published)
His understandings on anti-imperialism, the situations in the Third World and the rising changes to production that we see now and the resulting reactions against migrants, asylum seekers and the many in Britain who work in precarious jobs are very strong and are definitely the parts of his work that hold up the most and are the most important to consider.
Overall, all British Marxists should read Sivanandan.
Reading Sivanandan has been a long time coming and I'm glad to say that I have finally read a collection of his essays. One of his more famous essays, 'All that Melts into Air Is Solid:
The Hokum of New Times,' is included. This essay criticises Marxism Today's 'New Times' from 1988 and mainly criticises that and Stuart Hall's contributions. It is definitely one of the strongest essays included and summarises a lot of Sivanandan's points on identity politics and the necessity of class struggle in various movements, something that was fleeting from the rise of New Labour and the 'end of history' from the 90s and onwards. I think one thing I do agree with Hall on was the ways in which consumerism affects everyone, even those who cannot afford it. That feels much more pertinent now, even with Sivanandan's criticisms on those who aren't even in that position.
One thing about this is how British socialists read Sivanandan and don't really seem to grasp what he is saying. It can be a bit off-putting reading about his criticisms of identity politics (especially nowadays when so-called socialists use it to legitimise their own bigotry and chauvinism), however one thing throughout is how much he emphasises the contributions of Afro-Caribbean and Asian women in various community and political struggles in the 70s and 80s, holding out as other forms of black political organising were falling apart. Even without that, he is very explicit in these essays on the vast, rich contributions of social movements alongside class struggle, such as when he mentions Eurocommunism and how: 'The working class, as a consequence, was stripped of its richest political seams – black, feminist, gay, green etc. – and left, in the name of anti-economism, a prey to economism.'
Most of the other essays all share a similar tone on his thoughts on ethnicity, RAT (Racism Awareness Training) and the case study of a white headteacher (Maureen McGoldrick) in a school in Brent and Black Sections in the Labour Party. They're all mentioned in many chapters, with each essay focusing more on one or two of these specifically. It can make some of the essays feel a bit dated or difficult to utilise without a strong awareness on how to apply this to contemporary situations in organising and politics. Some of his other essays, such as 'Racism 1992' are incredibly strong, with the first passage reading like something today: 'There is a new racism emerging from the interstices of the old – less visible, more virulent, open to fascism and European – a racism directed against the migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers displaced from their own countries by the depredations of international capital.'
The final chapter on Sri Lanka can feel a bit too distinct from the rest of the book, still it's a strong chapter with a lot on information on the situations there at the time of writing. It helps to situate how Sivanandan's thoughts on identity politics would emerge from his life there to being a librarian at the Institute of Race Relations to eventually taking over and establishing the journal Race and Class (where many of these essays were first published)
His understandings on anti-imperialism, the situations in the Third World and the rising changes to production that we see now and the resulting reactions against migrants, asylum seekers and the many in Britain who work in precarious jobs are very strong and are definitely the parts of his work that hold up the most and are the most important to consider.
Overall, all British Marxists should read Sivanandan.
August 12, 2023
Read this book for a second time. Its vision could not be more prescient of the dire condition that anti-racist struggles in the UK/the West have found themselves in since deindustrialization and the destruction of the labor movement. Must read for anyone wondering why the BLM movement led to no social progress whatsoever.
May 31, 2017
Notes from thesis:
Being more invested in personal support and judgment, and in keeping the status quo, rather than in getting involved in organizational and political action can be dangerous (Sivanandan, 1990).
Being more invested in personal support and judgment, and in keeping the status quo, rather than in getting involved in organizational and political action can be dangerous (Sivanandan, 1990).
August 9, 2018
Sivanandan is unapologetically brutal in displaying his politics while savaging the identity politics of self. To understand Race and Class, or more correctly the Stuart Hall quote "Race is the modality through which class is lived" this book is essential.
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January 30, 2024Picked this up a couple weeks back and so glad I did. Should be mandatory reading for everyone on the British left, even if its language is a bit ~academic~ in places. The essays on New Times, RAT, and Sri Lanka are essential.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews