Move on over, Oehlerites

"Negro Slavery Then and Now" is a short pamphlet published by the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL) in 1939. The RWL was a small, left-wing radical group led by Hugo Oehler. The group was the product of a split in the Trotskyist movement. Still today "Oehlerite" is a term of opprobrium among some Trotskyists, meaning "muddle-headed sectarian".

I admit that this pamphlet is Oehlerite in this sense, being written from a "colour blind" perspective, constantly calling on Black workers to unite with their White brothers instead of supporting separatism, as if *that* was the main problem. Surely, the shoe is fundamentally on the other foot? White workers refuse to unite with their Black brothers, forcing Blacks to become separatists...

And how many times must we hear that Blacks are not a "nation" (in contrast to Slovaks or the Irish. Slovaks?!), and have the same culture as White Americans. Geezus, is this where Dick Fraser and the Spartacist League learnt their "revolutionary integrationism"? Bloody Oehlerites.

White bro, move on over, or we'll move on over you! Yeah, really.