Back in the USSR interviews Brendan Campisi about Jewish-American author and historian Noel Ignatiev, who is best known for his work on race and social class and for his call to abolish âwhitenessâ. He was the co-founder of the New Abolitionist Society and co-editor of the journal Race Traitor, which argued that âtreason to whiteness is loyalty to humanityâ. Particularly known for the controversial work âHow the Irish Became Whiteâ. Born on December 27, 1940 in Philadelphia, Ignatiev was a life-long radical. At different times he was a member of the Communist Party USA, Students for a Democratic Society, as well as the union movement where he took part in numerous strikes and labor actions. For twenty years he worked in a Chicago steel mill before being accepted into the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1985, where he earned his doctorate in 1995. His PhD dissertation, which later became the book âHow the Irish Became Whiteâ discussed the integration of Irish immigrants into white supremacist America in the 19th Century, arguing that race is a social construct, not a scientific reality, that groups of people are arbitrarily included in or excluded from by those with political power in society.
Back in the USSR's blog post for this interview, including links to related content, can be found here: https://proletarianguardbackintheussr.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-british-election-of-2019-and.html