would you also try to cure cancer while ignoring all the research published on it?
Counterpoint, you can understand the core points of socialism very quickly. One need not read 50 books before joining the conversation.
Right, but then you need to know how to make a proper analysis grounded in material reality, identify the main contradiction and organize effectively. All of this can’t be taught instantaneously. Especially when someone isn’t class conscious and has no background in leftist struggle. How do you explain to some sheltered worker that’s doing more or less well what imperialism is, what it does, why it should matter to them even if they’ve been trained to think exploitation abroad is justified, how do you help them become effective in their organizing?
I come from a leftist background, I grew up hearing words like neocolonialism and understanding what they meant, I worked with a leftist (but not communist) org in the past, and even then there’s a whole lot I didn’t know or understand, and what helped me was to sit down to read and listen to my comrades. We can’t build socialism just with vibes and ideals, we need to be grounded in reality.
Firstly, by not intimidating them with a book list
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Weirdly, none of the 80 books on the reading list will actually be by Marx himself
Why is that weird? Marx wrote in the 1800s, quite a few things have happened since then.
Because he’s the M in ML
Marx was a social scientist, not a prophet. Marxism is a science, not a dogma. Marx’s work should be studied, I feature his works in my basic Marxist-Leninist study guide, but that does not mean that Marx’s words are holy. Marxist concepts have been extended and explained in ways more applicable to contemporary times, retaining Marxism as the foundation and applying it to present, ever-changing conditions. It’s this flexibility and evolution of Marxism that turns it into a science, rather than a dogma.
One does not need to read On the Origin of Species to be taught and study evolution. Still a good idea to, but if textbooks that study the same basis and carry it forward to the modern day are created, then this is also good.
That’s more or less what every Marxist and Marxist-Leninist really needs to hear.
Sure, I agree, thats’s why Mao wrote Oppose Book Worship. Marxism is a guide to action, and a science that evolves.
