Another Passing Academic Fad

Sir: Peter Baldwin’s exhaustive article (“The Inherent Racism of Identity Politics”, January-February 2019) curiously makes no mention of the influence of Marxism on the current tsunami of identity politics sweeping Western academia. Only a few years ago the Arts departments of Western universities were steeped in the Marxist “historical truths” of the class struggle and the class war involving the aristocracy (in past times), the middle classes and the working classes. A true Marxist would never countenance identity politics, pointing out that the working peoples of the world may be black, white or brindle. In some countries there may be a preponderance of whites in the working-class struggle, such as in USA, and in others, such as South Africa, a preponderance of blacks in the working class. But their struggle to overthrow capitalism is universal.

So what on earth has happened to the Marxists on our Western campuses? Have they infiltrated the “identitarian…