Racism is a particular form of oppression: discrimination against people on the grounds that some inherited characteristic, for example, skin colour, makes them inferior to their oppressors. However this does not stand up to historical examination. Racism is commonly assumed to be as old as society itself. It is necessary to examine the underlying assumptions about racism in more detail in order to arrive at the materialist analysis of it. It grew out of early capitalism’s use of slaves for the plantations of the New World, it was consolidated in order to justify western and white domination of the rest of the world and it flourishes today as a means of dividing the working class between white and Muslim or black, and native and immigrants or asylum seekers.
The third view and the one which libertarian communists and social anarchists advocate is an explanation of racism based on a materialist perspective, which views racism as a historically specific and materially caused phenomenon. The second view is that racism is endemic in white society and that the only solution is for black people to organise "themselves separately from whites " in order to defend themselves and to protect their interests. People who have this understanding of racism usually advocate awareness and education as a way of preventing the practice of racism. The dominant view which is rarely expressed as a worked out theory but rather operates at the level of assumptions is that racism is an irrational response to difference which cause some people with white skin to have hateful attitudes to people with black skin which sometimes leads to violent and evil actions. There are basically three explanations for the existence of racism. Any discussion of racism needs to examine the roots of racism in order to understand it and to struggle against it effectively.
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