American Exceptionalism (was Re: Forwarded from Anthony (Gus Hall & CPUSA))

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 21 Oct 2000 07:16:03 -0400 Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> Hi Lou:
>
> Here's my late-night contribution to the discussion on the history
> of the
> CP-USA, Gus Hall, etc.
>
> Gus Hall and the Communist Party USA
>
> Gus Hall?s death has prompted an interesting discussion among the
> participants of this list on the history of the Communist Party USA,
> and in
> particular its failure become a more significant social and
> political force.
>
> I think that there are a combination of "objective" and "subjective"
> reasons for that failure which are for the most part not being
> addressed.
>
> On the objective side is the historic nature of the United States.
>
> American exceptionalism is a fact. The United States of America was
> an
> imperialist power from Day One - but not capitalist imperialism. It
> was a
> kind of imperialism based on the acquisition of land - and therefore
> the
> destruction of the culture and people who had lived on that land for
> thousands of years. That imperialism united all classes in society -
> except
> for slaves - against native American societies.
>
> The emergence of capitalism within this imperialism shaped the
> historic
> relation of classes. The working class in the United States always
> had a
> significant material stake in the victories of imperialism. The
> "popular
> front" of classes in the United States predated Dmitrov by a
> century.

Would you say that this sort of exceptionalism is characteristic
of settler states in general including not only the US but also
South Africa and Israel?  In apartheid South Africa a similar
"united front" existed between white capitalists and white
workers & farmers, all of whom had an objective material stake
in the displacement of native blacks from their lands and in their
subsequent exploitation by whites.  And likewise in Israel there
has long existed a united front between the Jewish bourgeoisie and
the Jewish working class there.  Both classes have a material
stake in the displacement and subordination of the Palestinians.
(Too the extent that this is the case then the sloganeering by Trots
and other leftists that Jewish and Arab workers should form a
united front would seem be rather pointless).


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