people read communist literature and mistake the idea that, materially, class is the main source of subjugation as it being the ONLY source of subjugation. The existence of class struggle does not negate socially constructed systems of oppression such as so called racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc etc etc. crazy how people try to wear their supposed superior class consciousness as some sort of trophy, like it completely erases their privileges in life. you’ve given me a lot to think about here. appreciate the perspective!
Facts. All analysis is lacking if it doesn’t completely deconstruct the myriads of privilege and assumed reality based on indoctrination. And that lacking will manifest in an incomplete ability to adequately address systems because blind spots will always exist. And we necessarily must rely on others for a more complete understanding of how others move through this world and have their material world impacted by capitalism’s myriad of forces. To not do this is peak hypocrisy when we talk about reading as the be all end all. Education needs to occur in all forms, especially those rarely written and extemporized on.
Really appreciate this. Love the writing style as well.
so much good in here I will be chewing on... describing the ~bodily~ sensation of bubble/ego bursting info was huuuuugely important to me, especially the end bit that we need to be able to breathe around each other!!
Your words practically sizzle. I didn’t know how much I needed the straight facts on this one and look forward to more of your writing on this.
Having joined the ISO in a post-Occupy world, I was surrounded by cadre who had the misfortune of assuming that because they were communists that they were absolved of these twin evils.
As you express so exactingly, this designation does NOT give us a pass but rather requires us to double-down on this “mixed consciousness,” to co-thrive with our comrades and build a better world.
I'm sure Franz Fanon would be rolling over in his grave if he knew I was riffing on "double consciousness" here, but mixed consciousness just seems to fit for me. That gap between enculturation and experience. Thanks for writing this piece, Grace.
This is masterfully written! I always become really confused when people speak of class struggle and the accumulation of capital without considering the historical racialised justifications that were applied/socialised of the time. To ignore these structures (that continue to exist) is to deny liberation for all.
i genuinely burst into tears at the moment when i read the bandaid being ripped off. the relief i felt was so immeasurable as a black queer genderfluid fem. i’ve been getting a LOT of white people being berating and insulting and saviorist on my tiktok fyp. i’ve been drowning in comment sections where im talked down to or argued against with fallacies (and then they try to accuse me of the same). i have been truly lost for words and, it feels like, lost at sea. because i often don’t know if i’m doing the right thing. i often try to do the “best thing,” which is HARD when we live in like… the worst version of the world. i’ve been questioning myself, and this has been so hard. esp right before the election. but to see another person just like me making the same points that i KNOW are true and have been trying to speak up about gives me strength.
i tried to write a post like this but i find myself without the words to succinctly summarize it all like you did. i want people to believe me and not argue with me. i want to seem like I Know. but i rly dont. i dont like theory, or praxis. i read books but i also live my life. i want people to listen when i say what it’s like to live as a black girl in this world. i’m glad the other black girls are here for me, at least.
Thank you Grace for this Call-In; we more than need it. I will continue to dissect what I can about my growth and my practices and foundation. Alan Woods quotes later that episode (42:43) from Lenin “ an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory”
This will never be someone more experienced and aware than Woman of Color, that have always been the front line and the mothers.
We have to be able to recognize the harms in repetitive conversations that stop the progress of action. Thank you
I really loved this, fellow Grace! I think some of the issue in these spaces is that often terms aren’t defined and identities aren’t acknowledged.
What I mean is when it comes to terms like “solidarity,” some people are using that term believing it means united against the same struggle and others use it to mean we are united against the shared causes of our different struggles.
So we see situations like the white male communist taking offence when someone with more intersecting oppressions due to their identity might say something about a struggle the white male communist doesn’t experience, they take it as saying they don’t face oppression.
super nice article and i totally see what you describe! i wouldn't go as far as describing myself as a revolutionary socialist or a communist (yet), but i do think this is an aspect that i have to continuously work on to deconstruct. i think there's a part of me that always wants to be part of the solution and that can come to the detriment of the movement as a whole and, most importantly, the voices of minorities that are much better equipped to speak up on many of the overarching issues of oppression than my own voice. thank you <3
your whole article is brilliant ♡ and centered squarely on the necessity of criticism and self-criticism! love the girl scout patch illustration for concrete experiences. i wanna use that so bad now
love that you said,
"my ability, as a person who has actually fought through years of multi-layered and structurally enforced hardship."
which takes concrete practice as principal over theory. when they put theory first, they turn a guide to action into dogma and fall into book worship
LOVE that you de-center individual identities in struggle the same way you de-centered individual attraction from lesbianism. and in both cases you reframed them as a dialectic between people!
love that you brought cybernetics into it and impact over intent is the correct materialist line. i wonder if people will notice cybernetics is related to the communist practice of a "Helmsperson" of a society which acts as a Good Regulator and practices adjustment based on feedback.
if any scientific socialist, such as communists, in any upper social-hierarchy, don't bother to fight the whole class struggle, and only eclectically pick and choose the parts that are relevant to them, then the working class cannot win. the practical and theoretical poverty of an all white, all male uncritical vanguard foredooms them as utopian socialists. misogyny and racism are integrated controls of a social hierarchical system that enforce capitalist relations to production and must be destroyed in the revolutionaries before the revolution can destroy the systems. in short, any social scientist ignoring criticism and self-criticism of misogyny and racism is already sinking into the quagmire of tailing the most backward elements of society.
comment is super long but your article is such a breath of fresh air and yet still fire. can't wait to read more from you ♡
This is so good! I am white but it articulates well a discomfort I’ve been having with some of the communist orgs I’ve been trying to join recently. Primarily they’re so white dominated. As someone who’s been trying to actively center POC, call out these tendencies when I see them, and get myself in better community with POC thank you for this <3.
Grace I want to thank you for writing, for helping me begin to really see my conditioning with your perspective. I have come to feel so much shame as a white male and you help me see myself think. I can't not be a white heterosexual male but I can try not to behave like one. I have two daughters (they're white too but female) and I want to try to do something, anything, everything to change the way female is treated by my people, many people. I feel I have to be careful with any approach or offer of assistance. I'm still in the information gathering stage and I'm open to suggestions especially yours.
I am a devout atheist but I want to worship an old indigenous woman, I could believe in her.
aw david, thank u so much for this! 🥹 the decolonization journey is very long but it’s necessary, so im happy you are brave enough to take the required steps to free yourself and become the best version you can be. if you’re looking for some books to help you on this journey, i’d recommend parable of the sower by octavia butler and braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer :)
Wow! I just asked my female friend to borrow her copy of braiding sweetgrass! I'll check out Octavia too (love the name). I read Virginias Orlando which I loved and I just lent that to the person who's got sweetgrass! I am so happy that you want to help me! I will start here and continue to read your work but if you have any other thoughts or practices that you think may be of service, I'm all ears. Black, hyper intelligent lesbian, I believe what you say!
people read communist literature and mistake the idea that, materially, class is the main source of subjugation as it being the ONLY source of subjugation. The existence of class struggle does not negate socially constructed systems of oppression such as so called racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc etc etc. crazy how people try to wear their supposed superior class consciousness as some sort of trophy, like it completely erases their privileges in life. you’ve given me a lot to think about here. appreciate the perspective!
YES EXACTLY THANK YOU. happy it resonated, dear ♥️
using girl scout patches as a metaphor was truly next level, this was such a good piece!!
happy that u fw the vision, thank you comrade 🙏🏽
Facts. All analysis is lacking if it doesn’t completely deconstruct the myriads of privilege and assumed reality based on indoctrination. And that lacking will manifest in an incomplete ability to adequately address systems because blind spots will always exist. And we necessarily must rely on others for a more complete understanding of how others move through this world and have their material world impacted by capitalism’s myriad of forces. To not do this is peak hypocrisy when we talk about reading as the be all end all. Education needs to occur in all forms, especially those rarely written and extemporized on.
Really appreciate this. Love the writing style as well.
YES!!! thank you PJ ♥️
so much good in here I will be chewing on... describing the ~bodily~ sensation of bubble/ego bursting info was huuuuugely important to me, especially the end bit that we need to be able to breathe around each other!!
YESSS i was hoping it’d be helpful! thank you so much for being receptive, dear 🙏🏽
thank YOU for lighting a fire in my belly yesterday (I ended up writing posting an inspired response too) !!
Your words practically sizzle. I didn’t know how much I needed the straight facts on this one and look forward to more of your writing on this.
Having joined the ISO in a post-Occupy world, I was surrounded by cadre who had the misfortune of assuming that because they were communists that they were absolved of these twin evils.
As you express so exactingly, this designation does NOT give us a pass but rather requires us to double-down on this “mixed consciousness,” to co-thrive with our comrades and build a better world.
🍳!!!! “mixed consciousness” is super interesting framing, thank you for this! 🫶🏽
I'm sure Franz Fanon would be rolling over in his grave if he knew I was riffing on "double consciousness" here, but mixed consciousness just seems to fit for me. That gap between enculturation and experience. Thanks for writing this piece, Grace.
This is masterfully written! I always become really confused when people speak of class struggle and the accumulation of capital without considering the historical racialised justifications that were applied/socialised of the time. To ignore these structures (that continue to exist) is to deny liberation for all.
SAY THAT. thank you teneille ♥️🫂
such a great piece. Wish this is mandatory reading.
tbh…adding it to my linktree bc of this comment! thank u luv 🫶🏽
i genuinely burst into tears at the moment when i read the bandaid being ripped off. the relief i felt was so immeasurable as a black queer genderfluid fem. i’ve been getting a LOT of white people being berating and insulting and saviorist on my tiktok fyp. i’ve been drowning in comment sections where im talked down to or argued against with fallacies (and then they try to accuse me of the same). i have been truly lost for words and, it feels like, lost at sea. because i often don’t know if i’m doing the right thing. i often try to do the “best thing,” which is HARD when we live in like… the worst version of the world. i’ve been questioning myself, and this has been so hard. esp right before the election. but to see another person just like me making the same points that i KNOW are true and have been trying to speak up about gives me strength.
i tried to write a post like this but i find myself without the words to succinctly summarize it all like you did. i want people to believe me and not argue with me. i want to seem like I Know. but i rly dont. i dont like theory, or praxis. i read books but i also live my life. i want people to listen when i say what it’s like to live as a black girl in this world. i’m glad the other black girls are here for me, at least.
i am here for you, always. thank you so much for this, bunny 🙏🏽
Thank you Grace for this Call-In; we more than need it. I will continue to dissect what I can about my growth and my practices and foundation. Alan Woods quotes later that episode (42:43) from Lenin “ an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory”
This will never be someone more experienced and aware than Woman of Color, that have always been the front line and the mothers.
We have to be able to recognize the harms in repetitive conversations that stop the progress of action. Thank you
this means everything, thank you so much mitch 😭
Dude your writing knocks me over every time. I keep trying to find a pull quote to restack but it’s just every line. I need to restack every line.
cass 🥹🥹🥹
🙃❤️
I really loved this, fellow Grace! I think some of the issue in these spaces is that often terms aren’t defined and identities aren’t acknowledged.
What I mean is when it comes to terms like “solidarity,” some people are using that term believing it means united against the same struggle and others use it to mean we are united against the shared causes of our different struggles.
So we see situations like the white male communist taking offence when someone with more intersecting oppressions due to their identity might say something about a struggle the white male communist doesn’t experience, they take it as saying they don’t face oppression.
super nice article and i totally see what you describe! i wouldn't go as far as describing myself as a revolutionary socialist or a communist (yet), but i do think this is an aspect that i have to continuously work on to deconstruct. i think there's a part of me that always wants to be part of the solution and that can come to the detriment of the movement as a whole and, most importantly, the voices of minorities that are much better equipped to speak up on many of the overarching issues of oppression than my own voice. thank you <3
thank you for hearing me and understanding that just bc your perspective isn’t centered, that doesn’t mean you won’t be liberated too ♥️
your whole article is brilliant ♡ and centered squarely on the necessity of criticism and self-criticism! love the girl scout patch illustration for concrete experiences. i wanna use that so bad now
love that you said,
"my ability, as a person who has actually fought through years of multi-layered and structurally enforced hardship."
which takes concrete practice as principal over theory. when they put theory first, they turn a guide to action into dogma and fall into book worship
LOVE that you de-center individual identities in struggle the same way you de-centered individual attraction from lesbianism. and in both cases you reframed them as a dialectic between people!
love that you brought cybernetics into it and impact over intent is the correct materialist line. i wonder if people will notice cybernetics is related to the communist practice of a "Helmsperson" of a society which acts as a Good Regulator and practices adjustment based on feedback.
if any scientific socialist, such as communists, in any upper social-hierarchy, don't bother to fight the whole class struggle, and only eclectically pick and choose the parts that are relevant to them, then the working class cannot win. the practical and theoretical poverty of an all white, all male uncritical vanguard foredooms them as utopian socialists. misogyny and racism are integrated controls of a social hierarchical system that enforce capitalist relations to production and must be destroyed in the revolutionaries before the revolution can destroy the systems. in short, any social scientist ignoring criticism and self-criticism of misogyny and racism is already sinking into the quagmire of tailing the most backward elements of society.
comment is super long but your article is such a breath of fresh air and yet still fire. can't wait to read more from you ♡
cybernetics!!!! helmsperson!!!! 📝📝📝 you are so smart and cool!!! tysm for this insight diva 🥹🫶🏽
This is so good! I am white but it articulates well a discomfort I’ve been having with some of the communist orgs I’ve been trying to join recently. Primarily they’re so white dominated. As someone who’s been trying to actively center POC, call out these tendencies when I see them, and get myself in better community with POC thank you for this <3.
plzzz join my discord!! you’ll find a lot of similarly minded ppl there 🙏🏽
oooo where can i find it!
in my linktree on my page!! ♥️
Grace I want to thank you for writing, for helping me begin to really see my conditioning with your perspective. I have come to feel so much shame as a white male and you help me see myself think. I can't not be a white heterosexual male but I can try not to behave like one. I have two daughters (they're white too but female) and I want to try to do something, anything, everything to change the way female is treated by my people, many people. I feel I have to be careful with any approach or offer of assistance. I'm still in the information gathering stage and I'm open to suggestions especially yours.
I am a devout atheist but I want to worship an old indigenous woman, I could believe in her.
aw david, thank u so much for this! 🥹 the decolonization journey is very long but it’s necessary, so im happy you are brave enough to take the required steps to free yourself and become the best version you can be. if you’re looking for some books to help you on this journey, i’d recommend parable of the sower by octavia butler and braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer :)
Wow! I just asked my female friend to borrow her copy of braiding sweetgrass! I'll check out Octavia too (love the name). I read Virginias Orlando which I loved and I just lent that to the person who's got sweetgrass! I am so happy that you want to help me! I will start here and continue to read your work but if you have any other thoughts or practices that you think may be of service, I'm all ears. Black, hyper intelligent lesbian, I believe what you say!
All I could think while reading this masterful piece was 'Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!'
many many thanks for giving it your time and attention!!! <3