Before Intersectionality: difference, exploitation and emancipation in Ruy Mauro Marini, Walter Rodney and Andaiye

This paper examines the treatment of difference in the construction, exploitation and emancipation of the working class in the theoretical work and praxis of three such figures from mid-20th century Americas: the Guyanese 'guerrilla-intellectual‘ Walter Rodney and feminist organizer Andaiye; and from Brazil, Ruy Mauro Marini, a Brazilian founder of Marxist dependency theory. All three drew attention to the rending of workers in international, racialized and gendered divisions of labour in the effort to exert greater rates of exploitation, particularly at moments of systemic transition. However, both the divide and control of the colonial political economy and the materiality of race gave rise to a new politics to meet this challenge, particularly in Guyana: autonomous organizations but also tactical alliances between sections of the class to oppose superexploitation, neocolonialism and dictatorship. This chapter attempts to draw lessons from these experiences for class-based organizing today.