Capitalism is a system of class oppression where one class of humans that produces nothing exploits the other who produces everything. This also occurred under feudalism, which utilized religion to mediate all social relations and maintain social order, the subject of religion being God. The subject of capitalism is profit.

The struggle between classes will remain after the defeat of capitalism, but we must make sure to develop a society in which the many continue to struggle for the benefit of all over the domination of the few who struggle only for their own benefit. The rule of the few dehumanizes the many to varying degrees to justify their own dominance, and through that dominance influences the many to accept the imposed condition of their own diminished humanity. Through the dehumanization of others however, the ruling class makes its self less human.

So even though it is humans carrying out this oppression, it is necessary to diminish the humanity of others in order to rule, and their rule sets the standard for what is and is not human.

When we fail to see nature as a unity of opposing forces, then we fail to recognize that every object is defined not in itself but by the things that relate to it, and we can’t understand some vital truths. Namely, that every social thing is defined not just by it’s own existence but also by the existence of its opposite.

Which is to say, that while it appears that humanity is the problem, this belief is a condition of our own oppression. Humanity of the many is not the “virus,” it is on fact the cure for the virus of class oppression and dehumanization. But to accomplish this, the masses must reassert our own humanity, unflinchingly in the face of violence that seeks to make us low and break our spirit.

As Paolo Friere said, “it is the historic mission of the oppressed to restore the humanity of the oppressor.”