I’m planning on starting a Marxist book club at my university, but I’m kind of dumb and have trouble understanding stuff, is there some trick I can use to understand more?
I’m planning on starting a Marxist book club at my university, but I’m kind of dumb and have trouble understanding stuff, is there some trick I can use to understand more?
What are you having trouble understanding? The theory material itself? What to pick? How to facilitate discussion?
The theory material, idk what I’m supposed to think when I’m reading :(
i would keep it simple and limited, when it comes to theory. The Communist Manifesto, Principles of Communist, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Civil War in France, Critique of the Gotha Programme, Capital Vol. 1 - that’s more than enough. if you like, you can replace Capital with books like Lenin’s Imperialism or State and Revolution.
something i would keep in mind - at the end of the day Marx was true to his roots as a philosopher. i would be surprised if you can pick up an ‘introductory’ or ‘easy’ text by Marx without taking notes and reading a second or third time.
when reading, questions you may ask: “Marx argues [point], but why? Is this argument convincing? There are a lot of words I’m familiar with here, is he using them in the common sense, or is he referencing something else? Is that his own theory and what he personally believes, or is he making a point about another thinker (i.e., Proudhon, Hegel, Smith, Ricardo, Lassalle, Feuerbach)? What assumptions is he making? Why should I believe this? Why do I agree/disagree with this?”
If you agree with everything you read on first encounter, without questioning or doubting it, you might’ve misread something or you might be missing context. I, for example, had to read Critique of the Gotha Programme multiple times because on first time I was careless and failed to distinguish between Lassalle and Marx, and the second time I failed to distinguish between ‘wealth’ and ‘value’ - both mistakes are so wrong I would’ve been better reading nothing.
I don’t question or doubt anything lol
i’m trying to think up a method or a book that’d be helpful to work from, but i don’t want to limit Marx to philosophy
maybe trying these strategies with something light, but theory-heavy enough, would be helpful. for that i would recommend reading Chapter 1 of Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Feel free to work through other portions as you please, or if you feel necessary, like the Introduction.
There’s also Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Freire, and Development as Modernity by Lushaba
for the purposes of a book club, though, i’m sure The Communist Manifesto and Principles of Communism will be alright. When you discuss with other people, you’ll learn a lot faster. They’ll pick up on details that you won’t, and vice versa.
PS: I forgot to mention that Capital, at least the first volume, will be required at some point; and also, Theses on Feuerbach is deceptively short, each ‘thesis’ is densely packed info, I did not know this and, as a result, didn’t really understand any thesis except the last
later on it could be a good idea to quickly look through For Marx by Althusser. this will give a good idea about how much someone can get out of Theses on Feuerbach if they study it carefully and research around the topics.
Are you starting this from scratch, by yourself? Or do you have some friends who are helping you start this thing, as well?
yep all by myself!!
Gotcha! So, I started a lefty book club with a couple friends, when I was in university. So in that sense, things were easier. But if you’re starting with just yourself, you’re gonna have to kinda start with boring stuff.
Come up with a name for your book club. Advertise it around campus. Make posters! If you see someone with a leftist sticker on their laptop or something, strike up a conversation!
Get at least 2 or 3 other people on board first. Then, if you’re not a big theory-head, see who is. Or at the very least, see who’s good at talking to people. Let that person start facilitating discussion. Have a few informal meetings, and see how they go!
You’ll start to learn how things will work, the more you do it. This stuff takes practice, and you’ll gain a lot of skills doing it, but don’t assume it’ll all go smoothly the first, or even the 5th or 10th time.
On that same point though, relax and have fun! Everyone is there to learn and talk about stuff.
If you’re lucky, you night also develop opportunities to collaborate with other student groups, or community orgs, and do some activism as well. I know with the group I helped start, it grew over time to a full fledged campus activist org that held film screenings, talks, protests, mutual aid, and more. And that’s because we kept making ourselves known on campus, and in the wider community, and put in the work to make that happen.
But, also don’t feel like you HAVE to grow it that way, if you don’t want to. You’re free to just let it be a small reading group between you and some friends!
Yay thanks for the tips