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Class solidarity is no walk in the park
ADAM THERON-LEE RENSCH talks to Mike Quille about what it is to be a working-class writer in the US and patronising perceptions of class that abound left, right and centre
portrait

Can you tell us about the book and why you decided to write it as a memoir?

I was very resistant to writing a traditional memoir, and the first draft of the book included very little personal narrative.

I believe the memoir or “creative nonfiction” genre tends to perpetuate neoliberal narratives that eliminate structural critique in favour of emotional identification. Everything becomes about the writer as an individual: their suffering, their triumph, etc. Who cares about the larger set of social relations that make this possible? What matters is what is moving enough to sell copy. So, I knew I didn’t want to play into this.

At the same time, I realised my life was something of a convenient structure onto which I could hang my critique. I was born in 1984, came of age in the post-9/11 landscape, and internalised the liberal obsession with meritocracy. If I was going to make something of myself, I thought, I had to become educated.

One of the ways you are clearly hoping that readers will “unlearn” their political outlook is through a more accurate understanding of their class position, and the importance of class-based politics. What is your understanding of class, and your thoughts on how to achieve a cultural shift towards greater class consciousness among working people?

What do you think is the responsibility of cultural workers – artists, poets, writers, film-makers, playmakers etc – to help our class develop and apply a more class-conscious approach to social and political campaigns?

Finally, what is your view on the result of the election, in terms of the need to develop and promote class-based, socialist politics in the US?

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