MIM Notes 35 Jan 23 1989 MIM Theory 14, Unofficial Theoretical Journal of MIM This article by MC5. Romance, gender and the party Ideological aim Communists favor the abolition of all power of people over people in the long run. That includes the elimination of class, gender and racial/national inequalities. Communists desire to be and are engaged in leading life-and- death struggles concerning the issues of war, violence, starvation, health care, homelessness etc. Factual generalizations In the United States, women have made great strides in entering the work force. As of 1989, most women in the United States do not depend on their romantic relationships for their day-to-day survival. For most people in the United States, romance is a leisure- time activity, not an issue of life-and-death. (See Shulasmith Firestone's The Dialectics of Sex on the impact of romance culture in diverting the feminist movement.) Logical distinctions and definitions When speaking of romantic relations, MIM is referring to relations with an active sexual component. It is possible (and desirable) for comrades of the opposite sex to interact on a platonic basis. Many people work to eat; in some cases women have maintained oppressive family relations in order to eat. Leisure refers to activities that do not involve serious physical harm or working for money or survival. While there are contradictions within leisure-time activities, they are generally non- antagonistic. Class contradictions are most evident in leisure activities that are part of bourgeois mass culture--organized spectator sports, the music industry etc. Propositions of line ´Since most people in MIM and anti-imperialist/militarist movements generally can survive without romance, communists do not waste time discussing romance or sexist attitudes within individual romances. Comrades' leisure-time activities should not interfere with their political activities. ´To set up an elaborate line on leisure-time activities would be time-consuming in both its construction and even more so in its application. The investigation of personal relations is an arduous task. In order to do a thorough job investigating sexism in romantic relations, it would be necessary to make public many time- consuming details of everyday and personal life. In the current context, such an investigation is not even possible because of the capitalist context it occurs in. Such investigations fail for the same reasons the kibbutz does or the American hippie/commune. Since sexism in individual romantic relations is inseparably intertwined with assorted personal details, many of innocent interpretation, investigations of sexism in romance would wrongly focus party energies into analyses of individual acts of sexism, individual lifestyles and personal details of no importance. In itself, the focus on the individual creates cynical individuals and corrosion of the party and the movement. ´The criticism of individual romances and setting of examples in romance is even less important than the criticism of rock and roll music. What occurs within individual leisure-time relations has much less impact than the cultural standards set in the rock industry. Time devoted to criticizing each other's individual romances is much better spent dedicated to exposing and criticizing structural gender inequality. ´Catherine MacKinnon refers to pornography as the eroticization of inequality. There is also a lot of pseudo- feminism that is merely the politicization of self-indulgence. (MacKinnon is excluded here. See numerous women's magazines sold at grocery stores near you.) ´The political/ideological criticism of individual romances within middle class Amerikan radical circles is an extension of leisure-time activities into the time that should be reserved for political activities. It is self-indulgence in the name of politics. Such blabber is an expression of the decadence of Amerikan imperialism, not a criticism of real gender inequality. It does not occur extensively within movements genuinely engaged in life-and-death struggles. It does not occur within those classes of people with more important things to do. ´The reactionary side of the slogan "the personal is political" is the glorification of issues of self-indulgence, part of the decadence of Amerikan imperialism. Personalizing everything, viewing issues from an individual viewpoint and inability to understand the concrete existence of classes, nations and genders--groups--is especially Amerikan. The material basis for this problem is well-described in J. Sakai's book Settlers, in which the reader sees that most white Amerikans have throughout most of Amerikan history had a chance at middle class existence--and hence "making it on one's own" and all the attendant attitudes of "rugged individualism." ´Inequalities within current Amerikan (and hence middle-class) romantic relations that do not involve physical harm or economic survival are not important, period. The relatively voluntary nature of most Amerikan middle-class romantic relations is proved by a simple test: most of the problems in such relations that could be endlessly discussed would be solved by a simple asexual orientation. Adopting an asexual status would not have dire consequences for most Amerikans. MacKinnon is right that all male/female relations contain a component of inequality. However, the existence of the possibility of asexuality for most people indicates that the coercive element in most romance is low. Many people obviously prefer to take their chances with date rape, economic inequality, verbal harassment and emotional letdown than choose asexuality. ´Under communism, inequalities within romance will not exist; however, attempts at hippie/commune/love culture in a capitalist context will inevitably fail in their aims and involve considerable hypocrisy. ´The loss of a single comrade from political life because of concerns in leisure-time activities renders that leisure-time activity a life-and-death threat to the international proletariat. Division of the forces of the international proletariat over leisure-time activities is criminal. The ultraleft is particularly prone to dividing the party and movement on the basis of issues and so-called principles with less than life-and-death importance. When the ultraleft focuses on sexism in romantic relations, it finds that lo-and- behold, men are guilty of sexism. Consequently, the ultraleft in practice does not trust or work with men in the party or the movement because of sexism found in daily life. The ultraleft's lack of priorities or strategic focus results in a corrosion of party and movement discipline/unity, which often the ultraleft does not value in the first place. One of the first things that should be ascertained in such situations is just how far petty-bourgeois ideology has set in. Some ultraleftists openly say that there can only be individual activists, and that group association and discipline have no value. This trend of thought has an especially strong material basis in the United States and students in particular. There is no point in talking about sexism with ultraleftists who do not value group unity/discipline in the first place. Such people are not going to trust anyone but themselves anyway. After wreaking havoc in the party and movement, the ultraleft is left with individuals or cliques of individuals that it "trusts." "Overthrow all and suspect all" was the popular slogan of the ultraleft in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Many people in student anti-racist, anti-sexist movements implicitly take this stance. Since no one is ever pure by the ultraleft's standards, demoralization and rampant individualism inevitably set in. *As part of their distrust-everybody-equally mentality, ultraleftists and pseudo-feminists often spread their wares through informal networks--gossip. Such gossip when connected to movements is most pernicious. Historically, the bourgeoisie has employed covert slander campaigns to discredit bourgeois politicians and movement leaders. It has been documented that the FBI attempted to show that Martin Luther King was a womanizer. It went so far as to hire women to seduce him in front of secret cameras. In his books, Nixon and his cronies admitted that he hoped to catch the Kennedys with similar means. Gary Hart was run out of a race for sexual liaisons. When Jesse Jackson was the front-runner in the Democratic primaries, there was talk in the press of a womanizer story about to break. If the bourgeoisie plays dirty tricks within its own ranks like this, revolutionaries should understand the role disinformation campaigns can play against themselves. Indeed, one of the documented FBI strategies is to inform individuals of the movement that their co-leaders are FBI informants! In any case, people who charge sexism within romantic relationships through informal networks are guilty of working through the most patriarchal of means. (See previous MIM Theory on Haymarket '86 and the Shimo Controversy on the superiority of democratic centralism over informal networks.) The often-unrecognized power structure involved in informal networks is much worse than encountered in a democratic centralist procedure where power-holders are formally accountable to the majority. *Selling out the international proletariat is also selling out the majority of women in the world. While middle class men and women may have an interest in verbally getting off on their romantic relationships, it is not an issue high on the agenda of the international proletariat. Policy *MIM seeks to avoid having its members or allies involved in romantic relations that involve life-and-death dependency. Only where such relations exist does MIM monitor the situation carefully. *Even among poorer sections of the population, where life-and- death dependencies do exist more often, MIM does not automatically oppose romantic and marital relations of inequality. (For example, see Muhammad Kenyatta in Monthly Review on the importance of the Black family at this time despite its unavoidable problems of inequality.) *MIM opposes gossip within party or movement ranks-- conversation and judgements about other people's leisure-time activities. When gossip occurs, MIM members and allies are expected to apologize directly to the parties affected. It is important that not a single person be alienated from the party or important movements because of gossip concerning leisure- time activities. See Mao's essay "Combat Liberalism." *MIM will not investigate to assure the following behavior in leisure-time activities, but will nonetheless expect such behavior: Comrades and allies should never lie to each other or the masses, only to the enemy. Comrades do not pretend that sexual relations in the current context can happen in a context of equality. They therefore avoid hypocrisy if they do engage in sexual relations. Comrades should realize that they are likely to hold social views outside the social mainstream. Therefore, they should assume responsibility for communication on issues of principle within any romantic relationship. In addition to not lying or engaging in hypocrisy, comrades are expected not to be mean or otherwise unnecessarily cause the alienation of other comrades, allies or masses from the causes of the international proletariat. Wherever possible, comrades should work to avoid causing the masses to identify comrades' personal foibles with the causes of the international proletariat. MIM stresses that no individual perfectly incarnates the international communist movement. Although MIM will not scrutinize romantic relations for the above, should a violation of these principles come to light, the party will expect self-criticism by the comrade involved, an apology and any other appropriate act of correction. ´MIM will investigate to enforce the following policies where necessary: The issue of discrimination is apart from that of romance. MIM members or allies who do not work with others (and hence set back the revolutionary movement) because of their race, gender, sexual orientation or individual romantic proclivities may be purged or disassociated from. MIM members or allies who discriminate (by race, gender, sexual orientation or for the purpose of obtaining romantic/sexual benefit) through the use of violence or power over another's career or economic survival generally may be purged or disassociated from.