“The sad legacy of Marxism is the mind-set of certain people both in the East and West who started to believe that only the State can cure economic ills and achieve social justice.” (See Yuri Maltsev’s article “Murray N. Rothbard as a Critic of Socialism”.)
The social justice ecosystem in America is an association of groups whose goals are one or another facets of “social justice”. Their common outlook is Marxist, the definition of which is somewhat adaptable to the times and current political-social situations. But commonly they believe that power exercised through and by the state and society, lately with an emphasis on racial power, is the cause of social justice inequalities and economic disparities and the cure for both. The social justice collection of groups that share this view therefore houses socialists and democratic socialists.
One may inspect this ecosystem using internet links and clicking on through from one group to the next. One rapidly uncovers a bewildering variety of groups with causes, all connected by more or less the same underlying premise. This is that they can get ahead and resolve their grievances only by or mainly by altering the balance of, in fact the very nature of, economic, political and social power, as they see them. There is a common mentality that links capitalism with the state and seeks to transform both or eliminate capitalism altogether. There are today further tentacles of socialist thought that take aim at racial and sexual matters.
Let’s look at a clear example of a white-created organization whose social justice outlook is Marxist in its power orientation. The Hill-Snowdon Foundation is a relatively small organization that now is supporting Black Lives Matter (BLM). “The mission of the Hill-Snowdon Foundation is to work with low income families and communities to create a fair and just society.” Their mission is not to improve the education, skills, family structure, economic capabilities or values of low income people, either in and of themselves or as steps toward a fair and just society. The mission they have is not bourgeois. It’s this vague thing called “social justice” which has to do with power. And in its more violent and crude forms it apparently has to do with destroying values of western culture and civilization and attacking white people.
The Foundation now dispenses grants to black-led groups to achieve its aim. The emphasis is on POWER, not education or capitalism or acquiring skills or creating stable families. The emphasis is not directly on identifying and then altering and eliminating legislation that undermines black people. The assumption is that the acquisition of power will lead to fair and just social outcomes. I quote at length:
“We define Black-led organizing groups as groups that have a predominantly Black Board, executive leadership, staff leadership and membership/leadership base; and the primary purpose of these groups is to work to build power with and for the Black community.
“The reason why Black-led groups are emphasized is in order to facilitate the rebuilding of a Black social change leadership base and pipeline. This can best be achieved through supporting Black leaders in the process of leading organizations, campaigns, work on the ground and through providing supplemental leadership development support. It is also important to work to reverse the historical trend of under-resourcing Black-led groups, particularly Black-led social change groups.
”In 2015, the Black Lives Matter movement has developed a considerable amount of Social Power, but its Institutional Power was more fragile or minimal, and its Political Power had yet to be realized. Now, in 2020, while we have seen advancements on the latter – we know that the work continues to evolve.
”The three critical, inter-connected forms of power necessary for social change:
Social Power – the ability to influence and shape the way that people think about issues and themselves and the ability to inspire people to action.
Institutional Power – the structural capacity (necessary) to move forward an agenda for social change, in a strategic and coordinated fashion and over time
Political Power – the ability to influence and change how systems operate (e.g., changing policy and practice).”
Will this approach work? That is the question. Will this result in improvement in economic and social outcomes for the targeted group of black people? The evidence so far of what BLM is spawning in localities is that it produces violence, intimidation, and rash changes in policies brought about by liberal politicians. It is also probably producing a degree of racial backlash and reversing racial integration. This can lead to a reduction of charitable giving directed from white people to black people.
Will funding black-led groups work to improve economic outcomes? Not if the BLM movement consists of socialists, for they are clueless about how to achieve economic progress. Not if the BLM movement fails to identify the actual laws hurting black people, doesn’t accurately identify the people behind those laws, attacks the wrong people for the wrong reasons, and goes off the rails of reasonable discourse and communication with the broader society.
The Hill-Snowdon people come across as well-meaning but deluded. They’re operating within a deep pit of wrong-headed Marxist assumptions about human beings, families, power, progress, society and economics.
Clicking around their web site leads one to Funders for Justice: “We’re a national network of funders increasing resources to grassroots organizations addressing the intersection of racial justice, gender justice, community safety, and policing.” “Funders” are groups providing money to local social justice groups, and they have formed a network, apparently to coordinate some of their giving.
It’s my working hypothesis that we will find that any group involved in the “social justice” business will turn out to be Marxist-socialist or heavily influenced by Marxism. They will not turn out to advocate capitalism, education, work, family values, free markets, and limited government. They will not properly identify problems and their sources. For example, they will call for defunding police or ending prisons without going more deeply into the laws that are basic to the police and prison problems. They will throw out the baby with the bath water.
I also hypothesize that the social justice eco-system is a hiring racket in which a good many people become salaried at easy “jobs”. In support of that, there is a 6-page planning document available in pdf form on the Hill-Snowdon site under “Hill-Snowdon Foundation Commits $5.5 million to Black Organizing & Black Movement Infrastructure”. That document, which is all about money support, mentions “…it is important to support the well-being, healing and rejuvenation of Black organizers and movement leaders in order to have a strong, robust and lasting Black movement for justice. This might include support for sabbaticals, counseling services, retreats and rejuvenation practices.” In other words, some money has to go toward vacations for organizers and leaders.
The FFJ blurb is like the Hill-Snowdon blurb: “FFJ looks forward to expanding our own understanding to support organizing toward racial and gender justice, and to growing our commitment to mobilize resources toward transformative social change. As this dynamic group continues to build momentum with their leadership and organizing in racial justice, gender justice, and anti-criminalization movements, they will also work together with FFJ to continue to envision a new way forward for philanthropy.”
Clicking through to all the groups supported by FFJ is beyond the scope of this blog. Choosing one at random, which is “Law for Black Lives“, what do we find? We find socialism, Marxism and anti-capitalism ideology. I quote.
“The current economic crisis and continuing racialized caste system both have their roots in capitalism- which is inherently predatory and racist. It has become clear that neither justice nor peace can co-exist within our current capitalist system. As movements across the country call for defunding the police, freezes on rent and universal basic incomes it is essential for organizers, legal workers and lawyers to understand the connection of each of these demands to anti-capitalist organizing as well as to start to envision and implement alternative systems that recognize and celebrate human dignity and value humanity.”
This is consistent with the hypothesis that social justice movements are socialist and Marxist movements. This means that, when there are social ills, the people adhering to these movements misidentify their sources and apply a Marxist model to overcoming them. They have a socialist model, and it’s the wrong model. They blame their idea of “capitalism” which is the wrong idea. They’re clueless about free markets and the problem of state power. They want to harness that power for themselves, which only means replacing one set of masters with another.
Community organizations cover a wide range. They’re not all as deeply socialist as BLM. For example, see here for a discussion of Restore Oakland. A mixture of activities is found in a project like this, ranging from “training to get good jobs in the restaurant industry” to prison reform.
It is common knowledge that George Soros is funding social justice organizations. He’s an anti-capitalist socialist, no matter that he made his money by speculating on currency movements.
9:42 am on September 22, 2020
