There is so often an attempt, usually by liberals in opposition to Trump, to present a uniform subject in society that is being duped by reaction. They will tell you that Trump attacking immigrants is him duping this pre-given subject, who starts from a blank slate of interest before Trump arrives. Dupery is a near constant aspect of capitalism, surely, but there is no pre-given uniform social subjectivity that Trump or any other fascist aims at deceiving from some blank slate. They are never not appealing to embedded power relations.

There is a class divide, and in this divide there are coalitions that are pushed to either side of it. Attacking “illegal” immigrants is an appeal to one coalition, against another. There is no pre-given universal subject. Trump is bringing forth a latent investment of one part of society, if not exploiting an outright conscious one. What we can say is that these people are being pulled into Trump’s coalition through their desire and investment in status, even if we could say there is a “dupery” in losing out on an alternative prospect. Yet no liberal can offer this alternative, and so they do not have the space to speak of dupery. What it would take for there to be an alternative is a collective power with the willingness to fight for it, and all consolation prizes are accepted in lieu of such a collective power appearing. There is no sense to a reaction in that situation beyond opting for the consolation prize, and yet it only can be shown to be consolation in the face of collective power appearing. Just the suggestion of a potential power is not enough. It has to demonstrate itself in some way that can break through capitalism’s ideological sense of inevitability.

We must acknowledge the split in subjectivity that cuts through class, into reproductive coalitions based around social hierarchies. We want to amplify this divide, in making it obvious. We bring people to our side in setting about a new world that can eliminate such divides concretely. These social hierarchies are reified into static subjectivities that align with our enemy’s order, but the truth is always that they can become de-reified and rendered without prior boundaries. That insistence on a static nature is always on the side of power, but always false in the last instance. We want to acknowledge the parameters of these subjectivities in order to dissolve them. Even more, we aim to push people to our side in becoming subjects of the total social task, so we can dissolve these antagonisms through the securement of life and its necessities for all.

Our subjective focus must acknowledge the class divide and its associated coalitions. We can not presume we have everyone on our side, but we must find a way that every reified subject in capitalism could hypothetically dissolve their interest into our social task. Our enemies can never propose what we propose, because they must maintain hierarchies at all times. We can not pretend to be inclusive of everyone on capital’s terms of identity, but we can create the space where every class antagonism could melt away.

Capital melts all that is solid behind the subject’s back, while re-substantializing the boundaries of identity that can be gripped like an object by the automatic subject of capital. Capital will force this process for all, as it eats away at the conditions that prop up any individualistic sense of identity, and it will steer people into the new parameters needed for its continued domination of social life. Reversing this is to present the “automatic subject” as humanity’s unconscious, and to open up the path where we could dissolve and re-substantialize our own boundaries, while given to a conscious social task..

We must clarify the social task and bring people to it, and that starts by acknowledging the static categories of capitalism to be dissolvable, even if they are often materially grounded. There is no pre-given universal subject at play. We can appeal to conscious interest among many, on the one hand, and latent, unspoken, unclaimed interest, on the other. We must see all subjects, on our side or against us, as divided, and capable of being pushed in opposed directions, depending on material circumstances.

We should see opposed identities under capital as dissolvable. People on our side need the help of the social collective to remain strong and grounded in the overall task. Nothing can be taken for granted as the natural state for any subject, because conditions are always sneaking up behind us to counter, or remold, our desire for static identity. Many we think are allies can be lost to our enemies. There is no perfect and static roles for self and other in any of this. There is just the refinement of the total social task that would stop embedding our sense of identity in the conditions of class, that all rely on forced deprivation. Overturning this forced deprivation is overturning class, capital, and every other malignant social hierarchy.