We see a lot of account requests from people who are just yet dipping their toes in marxism and communism. We can’t abandon new comrades to the flow of the current they are floating in, pulling them in all directions without a reason or goal in sight. They need a comprehensive, actual study plan.
I purposely limited myself to 6 books (honorable mentions would have been State and Revolution and the Manifesto) as this is like a crash course to get you to an adequate level. If you read say a chapter every night (and for principles of communism just do it in one go it’s super short), you should finish everything in around a month.
This thread should also double as an ask your questions thread. But I feel there’s also a whole thing around asking questions; people want to know about the war in Ukraine, about US imperialism, about what’s happening in China or the DPRK… but while this is important, it’s parallel to your marxist studies. You must, alongside current events, learn about the fundamentals as well. Sometimes it seems less important because there’s major stuff happening and “theory” is seen as some dead wood, something you can pick up but was written a century ago and so has little relevance to our world today, but it’s the opposite. If you truly want to understand what’s happening today, you have to understand not only what happened in the past that led to today, but also the theory that was written down in the past and is still applicable.
So anyway, feel free to ask for clarification on stuff you don’t understand, not focusing solely on current events as I often see around the grad 🙆♀️
I think we might also want to select some podcast episodes that offer solid commentary that make the texts more accessible. Possibly Red Menace?
Marx Madness as well for podcasts.
Marx Madness has been my jam, got me through a ton of theory. Just finished Black Reconstruction which was one hell of a journey. Looking forward to Neo-colonialism next
I second Red Menace, that’s been my go-to lately since I’m too busy with school to do other readings and listening on my commutes has been a pleasure. My gut reaction was to look for episodes on books on this list lol.