To Save The World: More Empathy, Not Less

Don't give up your soul just because the system has none

As the world becomes more undone by the excesses of capital heightening contradictions to the point where the crises of climate change, imperialism, deprivation of the working class, and public health all intersect, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend on the left that can only be described as “impotent spite”. The way this seems to manifest is in people cheering on mass suffering if it happens to the “right people”. Who the right people are is, naturally, subject to change at any moment.

I can’t help but see this as a parallel to what both liberals and conservatives alike do during every natural disaster — decide if it’s worth caring about based on who the people in question voted for. On the left, it’s often more about whether the people are wealthy (wealthy often being described by these same people as upper middle class workers) have reactionary beliefs, or are otherwise insufficiently class conscious. Never have I seen this more apparent than in some of the reactions to the devastating wild fires in Los Angeles this week. Sentiments ranging from “why should I care? They’re all rich.” to “well it’s just a bunch of zionists” (neither of these things are true, of course — the poor and working class are the most affected in these crises) betray a complete lack of understanding of what it means to believe in a better world, and how we will get there.

The above sentiments and that of those on the left who are the subject of this essay are indistinguishable

Many on the ostensible left seem to believe that communism, socialism, what-have-you, is where you sort people into good and bad boxes and then you completely do away with the bad ones. Not only does this completely absolve the socialist of his obligation to transform the working class by raising their class consciousness, it’s the sort of hubris that implies that you yourself have never had a bad, reactionary, or backwards belief about any subject. That you just came out of the womb a fully formed Marxist with perfect opinions. I believe it’s a dangerous road to go down, to start to cheer for mass suffering and brag about how little empathy you have for its victims. Letting yourself become the mirror of the system which has no regard for human life is no path to liberation, it’s the path to hell.

As for people who are politically backward, Communists should not slight or despise them, but should befriend them, unite with them, convince them and encourage them to go forward. - Mao Tse Tsung, The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War

The most radical thing in the world is to have empathy for those who have none. To be able to see the elevated version of people that they can’t yet see for themselves. To know that people aren’t genetically evil but instead do evil things because the culture flows from the politics. The superstructure from the base. It shouldn’t be controversial to say the people are not their governments but you often can get pilloried for saying so. But this begs the question: do you believe that there is a dictatorship of capital? Do you believe we live in a democracy? If you don’t then it can’t possibly hold that individuals who live under a system of which they have little to no control are fully responsible for the actions of their government. We go to jail if we don’t pay the taxes that are used to bomb Palestine while funding the cops at home who beat and jail us. We become homeless if we don’t work at jobs we often hate that provide profits for the ruling class to continue to oppress the world. It would be so simple if it was a matter of individual choice, but as Marxists we know that individual choice is a myth that only helps our rulers. We know that the history of everything is a history of class struggle. We know that it’s systems that we must be ruthless towards, not people, as Michael Brooks often said.

Certainly there are ways to bribe the working class to support things that ultimately go against their interests, but the bribe only works for so long. As we reach the nadir of what capitalism is capable of extracting, the promise that the capitalists bought us off with is proven false. People are more insecure, more unhealthy, working longer hours for less, as even the hope of ever ceasing to work one day becomes a fantasy. The imperial bribe is dissolving before our eyes.

Now a “bourgeois labour party” is inevitable and typical in all imperialist countries; but in view of the desperate struggle they are waging for the division of spoils it is improbable that such a party can prevail for long in a number of countries. For the trusts, the financial oligarchy, high prices, etc., while enabling the bribery of a handful in the top layers, are increasingly oppressing, crushing, ruining and torturing the mass of the proletariat and the semi-proletariat - Lenin, Imperialism and the Split in Socialism

With this in mind, I want the left to work harder on adopting a culture of empathy instead of embracing the nihilism and misanthropy to boldly brag about your lack of concern during natural disasters, thinking you are omnipotent enough to mete out justice based on the weight of some stranger’s soul. The reason I became a Marxist is because I suffered greatly under this system and I didn’t want anyone else to have to suffer like that. Giving in to impotent spite might feel good but you sacrifice a little bit of your soul every time you give in to this reactionary impulse. Wanting a better world, even for your enemies, will always set you on a closer path to achieving it than turning off your humanity if the people involved don’t meet your terms and conditions.

In these circumstances one must have a large dose of humanity, a large dose of a sense of justice and truth in order to avoid dogmatic extremes, cold scholasticism, or an isolation from the masses. We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity is transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force. - Che Guevara, Socialism and man in Cuba