What Is the Left Without Identity Politics?

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Four writers consider the question dividing the Democratic Party.
By Walter Benn Michaels, Charles W. Mills, Linda Hirshman and Carla MurphyIn the wake of last month’s shocking defeat, the Democratic Party, and the left more generally, is engaged in a new round of collective soul-searching into what went so devastatingly wrong. Some, like Mark

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I don't think there's such a thing as completely unifying identity politics. Every time you name an identity, someone gets left out. But at some point people have got to be okay with that. Technically, "rich coastal elites" would be alienated if we focus on the working class, but they just have to deal with that.

We can't stop talking about smaller identities just because they leave people out. There's been a lot of talk that essentially boils down to "regardless of people's inner feelings about racism/sexism/homophobia, if we can just all agree on economic issues we'd become an unstoppable progressive force." So on a macro level we would all be better off economically, but on a micro level I still have to live and work with these people, so it does matter if they're still racist/sexist/homophobic but even if they vote for better economic policies. Those racist Obama voters who voted for Trump this time because they want better policies for workers? Still calling him the n-word behind closed doors, so I'm sure they're doing it to the black people in their communities, too. That's why we have to keep those identity politics conversations happening even if they seem alienating to some people.

That's why I keep saying in these posts it's not just about winning elections for me. That's important but I can't support tactics that win elections but don't also improve living conditions (not just economically) for oppressed groups.