On gender
LLCO.org
A big part of communism is the elimination of gender oppression. Women have been stomped on and trampled on by men for tens of thousands of years. In much of the world, women are treated as property. It is time to turn the tables. It’s time for total revolution. However, we have to understand gender scientifically. Just as Vladimir Lenin wrote of the “split in the working class,” there is also a split among women and oppressed genders today. Imperialism has changed the game. In general, contrary to First Worldist feminist dogma, First World women are now enemies of Third World women. Let’s explain.
In the First World, gender is not connected as it once was to biology. Due to the high standard of living made possible through imperialism and advances in technology, First World women are less and less confined to traditional social and reproductive roles. Women are no longer stuck in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, in the First World. First World women have access to a high degree of life options that are not strictly limited by reproduction. For this reason, inequalities between First World men and First World women should not be confused with traditional-patriarchal oppression which is centered around biology and reproduction. Rather, these remaining inequalities should be considered a residual effect from traditional-patriarchal oppression. It is likely that over time, these echoes of traditional oppression will become less pronounced in the First World.
The status of First World men and First World women is maintained at the expense not only of class and national oppression of Third World peoples, but also gender oppression of Third World peoples. In other words, First World women benefit from the gender oppression of Third World women. How do First World women benefit from the patriarchal oppression of Third World women? How can one group of women gain by the gender oppression of another?
The end of traditional-patriarchal oppression for most First World women has been made possible by the enormous concentrations of wealth that imperialism has generated for the First World at the expense of the Third World. First World women have gained the ability to enter the economy and earn superwages. This gives First World women the option of opting out of the traditional role where the woman’s survival depends on her husband as earner. First World women have the option of living independently, without a male partner. Thus First World women are freed from the traditional oppression connected up with their role in reproduction, i.e. motherhood. Their liberation from traditional male-centered conceptions of sexuality has also been made possible. First World women have access to a greater range of life options open to them. First World women are able to earn exploiter superwages alongside First World men. First World women are able to partake of the spoils of imperialism on a more and more equal basis with First World men.
The increasing equality between the sexes in the First World is a result of the capitalist-imperialist world system. A big part of maintaining the global system of oppression is the fusion of various aspects of feudalism and capitalism in some parts of the Third World. Third World women are some of the biggest victims of the capitalist-imperialist system. They tend to be locked into traditional, feudalistic oppression in agrarian societies. In industrialized areas, they find themselves the most exploited, working for more hours and for lower wages than their male counterparts. They increasingly find themselves enslaved, often by the global sex industry. The situation of Third World women is a function of, among other things, their gender oppression. And, gender oppression in the Third World aids the imperial system that channels wealth from the Third to the First World. Gender oppression in the Third World props up the gender equality in the First World. First World equality is propped up by semi-feudalism and semi-colonialism in the Third World.
Fake gender “liberation” in the First World has meant that First World women have increased access to the traditional privileges and lifestyles enjoyed by men in the First World. This “liberation” has gone beyond First World women. First World gays, lesbians, bisexuals, queers, trans-gendered persons have more and more access to the traditional power and privileges of First World heterosexual males. However, this social democratic opening up of First World society is based on continued gender oppression of the Third World. For this reason, there is less and less reason to consider First World women as separate from First World males from the standpoint of global power analysis. This also explains why traditional conceptions of “manhood” and “womanhood” are breaking down in the First World. And, there is more and more reason to consider First World women as separate and distinct from Third World women. It is correct to see First World men and First World women as having more in common. This state of affairs is borne out by material analysis and the historical record. Almost all First World people are enemies.
Revolutionary, proletarian feminism rejects the lie of the universal sisterhood. Such lies only serve imperialism at this point. This lie tells Third World women that their true allies are First World women, not the Third World men fighting alongside them against imperialism or fighting alongside them for Leading Light Communism. This lie tells Third World women to put their futures in the hands of benevolent pink imperialism. We need to recognize the great division between the Third World and First World affects gender too.
This doesn’t mean that sad inequalities do not remain between First World men and First World women. Nobody likes to see domestic violence, rape, and other cruelty that affects women disproportionately. However, on the whole, we have to use our brains here. It is obvious that First World women as a whole are not going to support communist and anti-imperialist struggles. We need to understand this fact and deal with it. We should all seek to be egalitarian and just in our personal interactions. We should live the revolution. We should stand for right and wrong. We should be good people. However, the only real feminism is proletarian feminism, Third Worldist feminism, Leading Light Communism. Real, proletarian feminism is feminism that supports the destruction of the First World. It does not seek alliances with the First World so-called “working class” or First World women. Revolutionary, proletarian feminism recognizes that the contradiction between First World women and Third World women is antagonistic. Revolutionary feminism identifies First World men and First World women as the enemy. Revolutionary feminism is the feminism of the Global People’s War waged by the global countryside against the global city, waged by the Third World against the First World, the Global Proletariat against the Global Bourgeoisie.
Our revolution will come from the darkest, most oppressed places. Third World women and children will lead the way to a better world. Mothers. Daughters. Sons. They will play a key role. Real revolutionaries, Leading Lights, unite with Third World women. We unite with Third World men and women against First World men and women. We support the New Democratic revolution to create basic rights for women and men in the Third World. We support the Global People’s War waged by women and men in the Third World against the First World. We support socialist revolution. We support true, Leading Light Communism, total liberation. Leading Light Communism is a revolutionary strategy that accounts for the real world, not the world as we imagine it. All real feminists stand with the vast majority of women in the Third World. All real feminists are Leading Light Communists!