I'm a long-time follower of this list and have been content to scan the conversations but feel compelled to break my silence just to say that I second comrade Cherry's remarks & consider their intervention most welcome
whenever a minority is hunted down by a ruling class & by a system of oppression that serves capitalism THAT's where marxists need to join their struggle &, in doing so, ask themselves, "what is there in this issue that makes me/folks feel uncomfortable/challenged?" historically, materially, etc., transgender & non-binary activism has only benefitted us all (in the US & elsewhere) (if alive today, Karl & Eleanor would certainly support the liberation of these comrades for what they teach us about the possibilities of real human development) mark On Sun, 28 Feb 2021 at 03:46, Cherry🌸💖(they/them) <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear comrade, > > I think you have quite an economistic perception of marxism and its worldview. > > Firstly, Marx was never limit his analysis solely to class and economic > questions. In fact from start, he combated a lot of chauvinistic attacks and > nationalism, pointing out how the superstructure of capitalist society > alienates and treated human beings as some sort of appendage of the machine. > If you pay attention to Communist Manifesto you can read the following: > > >Owing to the extensive use of machinery and to division of labour, the work > >of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and consequently all > >charm for the workman. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is > >only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that > >is required of him. Hence, the cost of production of a workman is > >restricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence that he requires > >for his maintenance, and for the propagation of his race. But the price of a > >commodity, and therefore also of labour, is equal to its cost of production. > >In proportion, therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the > >wage decreases. > > Marx and Engels quite clearly explained how capitalism as a whole treat and > constructed around transforming workers into this plain continuation of the > machine and how the wage question relates more to cultural aspects. For > instance, "reproducing working class" means no only buying things but also > alienates workers from exploring themselves as something more than just these > dummies who produce a surplus. Like capitalists use means from entertainment > to control of sexual life to convince capitalism is normal, workers need only > give education for being better servants of machinery, etc. However, > combating against this means reducing working hours, getting better wage to > explore self and promote own self-exploration combating alienation, i.e. when > goods produced by workers controlled outside them and when capitalists deny > they ability to explore the self. > > Secondly, you can see how this affects sexuality. If you read more on state > and its laws, the state considers women as being no mere than baby-producing > machines that cannot even control their own womb. At the same, men and women > divided and treated only in the context of the ability to reproduce the > population, to such extent that there can be laws directly controlling > sexuality and considering that women shall be not engaged in certain > activities due "issues with reproducing health". So being trans is somewhat > appendage and you directly considered to be castrated (like in Finland, > Slovakia, Czechia, Romania, Japan, etc), forced to save and freeze your > genetic material and in general, shall be a good trans and stay out of the > public sphere. > > Thirdly, nor Marx, nor Engels were dealing with transgender and non-binarity > topic. But Marxism is a paradigm, hence, it has its own methods and worldview > which you can expand to understand such issues, like how it relates to > capitalism as a whole and why it requires to use of certain ways of treating > workers. > > Btw, "transexual" is a term from 70s, and it's now not used and will be > omitted in the ICD-11 edition, please, when you refer to trans people like me > avoid using it and use transgender women, men or non-binary. Also asking > pronounces is nice ton. > > -- In tyrannos. La Justicia Es Para Todos! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#6828): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/6828 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/80953897/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
