The "battle to throw off the self-image the rulers teach us"

Have "manual workers" been sold on racism because of their precarious situation under capitalism?

Are workers who vote for Trump or "Brexit" all chauvinists? Are they a brake or roadblock to solidarity and independent labor political action?

I do not think workers (including Caucasian workers in imperialist countries) are moving lockstep and in unison to the right of the bourgeois political spectrum.

And for those who are, I do not think the discussion is over.

Quote from Are They Rich Because They're Smart?:

.... there is growing confidence and openness among workers everywhere in the United States to discuss and debate the broadest social and political questions, including the stakes for the working class in organizing the unorganized and rebuilding our unions as instruments of solidarity and struggle.

These political opportunities are not an impression from outside the working class. They’re the practical conclusion from half a decade of efforts by members and supporters of the Socialist Workers Party going door to door in working-class neighborhoods of all kinds across the country to talk with and exchange experiences and views with fellow workers.

The heart of these discussions — whether on a porch, at an apartment door, at a strike picket or social protest, or life on the job — is never simply about “issues,” even political questions of great importance to the working class. It’s about the way forward. It’s about what Jack Barnes points to in the closing article in this book as “preparing the working class for the greatest of all battles in the years ahead — the battle to throw off the self-image the rulers teach us, and to recognize that we are capable of taking power and organizing society.”

That’s the conclusion that’s decisive for workers everywhere today. To act on the necessity, as we gain confidence and experience fighting alongside each other, for the working class to recognize our humanity, our capacities, and the traditions our class has forged during well over a century and half of struggles, including revolutionary battles and victories. “To broaden our scope,” to discover our “own worth,” as Malcolm X was always explaining.

http://themilitant.com/2016/8024/802450.html