Learning Theory

Since we know that learning is active and can happen in a variety of ways, it stands to reason that theory itself can be learned in a variety of ways.

Practical theory is learned through experiencing material conditions. Being Black means you learn about racism through experiencing it. Being poor means you learn about class war by experiencing it. Being trans means you learn about gender and sex and the patriarchy by experiencing it. Being poor and Black and trans means you experience intersections of white supremacy and capitalism and the patriarchy.

You cannot learn practical theory without experiencing it. A trans white person does not have the same experiences as a trans Black person because they do not experience the oppression of white supremacy. A poor Native person has a different experience with class war than a poor white person because of the intersections with white supremacy and settler-colonialism. Our intersections define our experiences and those experiences define our relationship with privilege. Our experiences form our practical theory.

But it isn't quite enough to have practical theory. We can understand the material conditions that are happening around us. We can see that class war exists, we can see that sexism, racism, transphobia, etc. exist and sometimes we can pinpoint the why but generally the why is where we look to historical dialectics. We look for patterns, we seek context to understand the *why*.

Understanding the effects of racism on society now without understanding white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, and the development of race as a eugenics pseudoscience means you only have half the picture.

Understanding the effects of capitalism without understanding imperialism, colonialism, feudalism, and white supremacy means you only have half the picture.

Likewise, studying historical theory without having practical theory also leaves you unprepared for understanding liberation.

Combining material conditions with an understanding of the context, discovering the correlations and the intersections of oppression and exploitation that exist means you see the whole picture.

Learning theory happens in so many ways. Theory is in everything. Theory is what teaches you about life.

Theory is in the stories passed down, in music, in art, in poetry, in gardening, in movies, in everything we do. Existence is political in the society we are forced to exist in, and so it becomes a way to learn theory.

Big Bill Haywood said "I've never read Marx's Capital but I have the marks of capital on my back."

We all have the marks of capital on our bodies and our minds.