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What does materialism have to do with communism? (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

yes, we believe capital is relational ofc, and historical situated. there is nothing natural or normal about it. it's a phase, a period, an arrangement. But culture is a product of the relationships of production, that's our epistemology. Humans do stuff, how "we create" our world (so, our labor) is what really matters. I hope it's clear now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We create the world by thinking about it. Mothers, teachers, priests, musicians, historians, scientists, analysts, artists, philosophers, and programmers are all workers, they all perform labour, and they all spend all day doing nothing but shaping human thought (except for mothers, who also have to raise the children). They spend all day producing culture.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

all fine, you might be more Weberian than Marxist. Try to read about Max Weber. But he wasn't a communist. at all.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well if he's not a communist then I'm not going to agree with him. Ownership of the means of production by the workers is essential to a fair society, as is the abolition of class, currency, and the state. Wealth must be distributed from each according to ability to each according to need.