I feel like I understand communist theory pretty well at a basic level, and I believe in it, but I just don’t see what part of it requires belief in an objective world of matter. I don’t believe in matter and I’m still a communist. And it seems that in the 21st century most people believe in materialism but not communism. What part of “people should have access to the stuff they need to live” requires believing that such stuff is real? After all, there are nonmaterial industries and they still need communism. Workers in the music industry are producing something that nearly everyone can agree only exists in our heads. And they’re still exploited by capital, despite musical instruments being relatively cheap these days, because capital owns the system of distribution networks and access to consumers that is the means of profitability for music. Spotify isn’t material, it’s a computer program. It’s information. It’s a thoughtform. Yet it’s still a means of production that ought to be seized for the liberation of the musician worker. What does materialism have to do with any of this?
Truth is separate from material reality and as a post modern neo Marxist I am uniquely in a position to say that I do not believe in truth but do believe in material things existing.
Do I believe they exist in the way they are presented to us in our experience? I don’t know. I don’t really care, either. The way we perceive reality being “true” (an objective definition of which does not exist) or not doesn’t matter nearly as much as it being consistent. I suppose the existence of things we can’t perceive outside of our perceptual interface is intriguing (and possibly concerning), but until we can reliably survive as a species and not kill each other, that should probably be put on the back burner
Our perception of reality isn’t consistent, though. Our perceptions can be changed quite easily. Optical illusions can show us things that aren’t there, schizophrenia can convince us of things that aren’t true, and religion and magick can change how we interpret what we see into a worldview. And actually, these facts are deeply relevant to surviving as a species and not killing each other –
When a transphobe looks at a trans woman, they see a man. When an ally looks at a trans woman, they see a woman. Perceiving a trans woman to be a man is a form of life threatening violence. It is our ethical duty to perceive trans people as they wish to be perceived, both as workers maintaining class solidarity and as fundamentally decent people. Trans liberation requires that we see our perceptions as malleable, and within our control. To pass the buck onto an imagined “material reality” and demand reality control our perceptions for us is irresponsible, transphobic, and violent.
But we control the reality too? How is that irresponsible? It implies it’s just more difficult than sitting in a room and thinking super hard
Demanding that trans people undergo visible transition and changes in gender presentation before we will perceive them as they wish is violent. Just change your thoughts, don’t put the burden on the person who may die if their efforts to transition fail.