[KurtFF8]

In the year 1877, the signals were given for the rest of the century: the black would be put back; the strikes of white workers would not be tolerated; the industrial and political elites of North and South would take hold of the country and organize the greatest march of economic growth in human history. They would do it with the aid of, and at the expense of, black labor, white labor, Chinese labor, European immigrant labor, female labor, rewarding them differently by race, sex, national origin, and social class, in such a way as to create separate levels of oppression - a skillful terracing to stabilize the pyramid of wealth.

For the bold: It may seem reductionist to put all of those categories of the oppressed in an economic context, and this is a lot of the criticism I get by other non-Marxian leftists. But it seems quite important to put those forms of oppression in their economic context, which provides motive for the oppressors. Some may view that context as simply descriptive but I think that when one understands the nature of exploitation and why it would be in the interests of the rulers to have those social groups be separated instead of united, then one begins to understand the nature of oppression itself.

[peter_co]

Doesn't such Commie babble belong in the Communist subforum?

[KurtFF8]

No, I chose the history forum because it's a direct quote (and hopefully subsequent discussion of the quote) from a history book, a very famous history book at that. Also it's about that specific historical period (and of course the consequences of that historical period on today, as all historical discussions in effect are)