A socialist who doesn't read at least 100 pages a day is just wasting his and everyone else's time.
At this stage of the struggle, at least, educating ourselves is the single most important task. If you want to change society in virtually every sphere, then you need to know the details and the mechanics of it, and you need to have the answers to its problems.
For too long, Socialists online have been defending their own choice of ignorance by saying that it's "elitist" to tell people to read, study and educate themselves, because not everyone has this option. Given that the average socialist today is young and not exactly a chinese factory worker, I call bullshit on this. It's just the laziest elements of our own - those who want to call themselves socialists and be fashionably radical but put no work in it - creating a subculture where their own stupidity is sold as a principled, down-to-earth display of humbleness and regular guys-ness.
We need to raise above this shit. If you're going to stay and call yourself a Socialist when the Brooklyn hipsters and the college kids will have long since moved to a new fad, you'll need a lot of knowledge and a lot of dedication. Stop shitposting, stop saving memes, and read. Stop looking for the ideal perfect introductory book, read what you can and use your research skills to figure things out. Write your own observations and reviews of each work to develop communication skills. Download lectures and podcasts that you can watch/listen while you're busy doing other things. Create a schedule and manage your time properly. Otherwise, you're just a faddist, doing what feels cool at the moment, who will probably be voting Conservative in a few years.
You realize some people have 2 jobs they need to get by on here, right? Lower it down to a reasonable fucking level, maybe 50. Because I doubt that someone who's physically and mentally exhausted after working will want to sit down and read 100 pages of theory when they're bound to just want to take a rest. Considering from my own experience where I was lucky to pull 10 pages after work because I am almost always exhausted when I'm done
Cooper Bennett
What about reading 100 pages of stack overflow.
Camden Sanders
READ THIS
*pulls out penis*
Michael Powell
oops forgot flag
Nathaniel Reyes
Can't read … too small
Luis Peterson
Socialism is not a book club. Also 90% of leftist theory produced in the 20th century is revisionist garbage anyways. All you need is Marx, Engels, Lenin, and some of the guys who are associated with the frankfurt school of witchcraft and wizardry (Adorno, Benjamin, etc.)
Dominic Cruz
No.
Ayden Murphy
Weren't most of the early frankfurt guys Stalinists though?
Zachary Young
Start reading before work and stop putting things off until after work. Work is the most demanding thing we do every day, and rarely do we have anything left in ourselves after capitalism has wrung out our spirits. Not only will you have more success that way, but you'll be able to tolerate work better with theory in the back of your head. I also find that I'm more likely to pick a work back up if I've already read some of it that day, and so am more likely to also have motivation after the boss is done exploiting me for the day.
Robert Bell
Am I the only one who unironically agrees with OP?
Stalinism is revisionism. Their United Front was the cause of failure in all of Latin America during the first half of the 20th century, because it ended up being literal class collaborationism. Cuba was successful precisely because they (Ché Guevara in particular) were fierce critics of the Soviet experience, especially in the economic ground.
No. At least on the Brazilian case it was the disconnect from the working class and sacking of the more experienced heads during the early thirties that caused such setbacks. For instance Otavio Brandão, a pioneer in marxism and the one that coined Marxism Leninism first, got sacked from a leadership position despite predicting what would happen next in the national politics(although theory wasn't his strongest point). Later on you could point on Prestes leadership. The first part of the century is a bit more complicated than: it was Stalin's fault.
Henry Brooks
I agree with 99% of the rest of what you posted, but 100 pages a day is just nuts. Sorry, some of us are slow readers and have shit attention spans. However, that's no excuse not to read. I'm slowly making my way through Capital right now (on ch 3), and I've read a bunch of booklets and pamphlets from Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Stalin, etc.
John Wright
Socialism is not a religion, and Marx is not a prophet.
Matthew Morales
the opposite is true a reader is a do nothing time waster
Jonathan Myers
Oops,lol. No wonder everyone here has such shitty takes here. Let's say you work 8 hours, and then sleep 8 hours (the recommended minimum). That leaves you with 8 hours in the days for free action, and counting weekends (minus the work times), we suddenly have (8*5 + 32) 72 free hours to spend all your time reading. Well just totally ignore any other use of that time, our person just reads, works, and sleeps (the perfect revolutionary! sic). If they read 100 pages a day, at a page a minute (lol), they will spend an hour and 40 minutes on this a day. That is (100*7/60) 11 and 2/3 hours a week spent reading theory, and 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧11&2/3)/72)*100) ~16% of their free time reading. Assuming perfect factors, we have gotten 16% of free time that will be committed to reading. If this doesn't seem unrealistic to you, Lenin has very kindly estimated when your perfect proles will come to fruition. Give me podcasts/lectures Give me tips/tricks, and/or a video/short book please.
Lucas Gutierrez
Unless you're undermining capitalism through drug dealing, fraud, terrorism and shoplifting you're not really helping socialism. "Propaganda of the deed."
Lenin was talking about literally illiterate people who were working 80 hour workweeks. He held the vanguard and politically conscious people in general to extremely high standards and would have laughed at you for saying people should cater to your podcast-addled brain.
Aaron Bennett
You can read all the books in the world, but it won't bring about a proletariat revolution any time sooner. Especially if you don't even have the charisma to publicly educate others (in a manner that the general public understands) towards Marxism.
You really think every prole during the October Revolution was heavily versed in historical materialism? good joke. But they sure knew how to shoot in the right direction…
If you're not willing to lay down your life for the cause, then you're wasting everyone else's time tbh.
Isaiah Foster
Tbh if you're not already living in a socialist utopia you've lost. t. Time traveler from 1 P.E.T.S.P.SA.E. (The time period that happens after C.E) Btw Tdrumpf gets 3 terms and on the start his 4th he finally get's assassinated, and that triggers a mass series of events over the next 300 years, literally everyone dies but like 60 million people and there are even less resources, so people had to resort to communism to survive, and that's how communism came into being, by the end only 16 million were left to rebuild in a stable environment. Also ama.
Robert Morgan
Can people stop conflating reading x number of pages with actual knowledge? Certain books are practically useless. Effectively making their page numbers worth nothing. There are a lot of topics which are useful, pick wisely. There are also other things which might be more useful. Getting fit, learning how to cook properly, learning how to use weapons, learning how to craft and create tools, learning how to survive in the wild.
As for topics which are the most useful. -How capitalist mode of production works, both old and contemporary. And what it requires for continued survival. How it encourages humans to keep permeating capitalism. How it changes peoples lives. -The tactics used by capitalists and politicians to promote right-wing beliefs. -How resource management and logistics are very important for capitalisms survival. -Why neo-imperialism and current immigration policies help capital. -What modern products (including food) require to be produced, and how food supplies should be handled under socialism. -How socialism should be structured for continued human survival, which does not exhaust the planet of its resources. -How socialism can use modern technology for efficient planned economies. -Proper philosophic thinking. No sophistry, no grandeur complex. The ability to relate events through non-linear thinking. Understanding of how dialectics relate to real human beings. -Linear Algebra and Calculus if you really want to. It would be useful if you ever wish to learn about economic planning.
Dylan Reed
I never read more than when I was a NEET. I miss the free time that came with that while I don't miss being absolutely broke all the time.
Dominic Richardson
Good post but
Fam we may not be the gentlemen on soviet propaganda posters but most of us work a couple jobs and at least speaking for myself by the time I get home im tired enough that after like ten pages of theory im falling asleep at the table.
Overall I absolutely agree but your points going to fall flat if you dont acknowledge that
Using freetime to study and setting realistic goals and keeping detailed notes and commentary is completely necessary, cut out vidya or getting drunk or whatever and spend at LEAST a few hours when you do have off, or maybe the full shift of one of your jobs if you get off one but not the other for the day.
Parker Gomez
Gee user i cant possibly imagine how learning about the world and the way it functions could be helpful to trying to change the world and the way it functions
Training with firearms and tactics is of course crucial, its just not seperate from the wider question of study. If thats your focus thats wonderful but it is ridiculous to act like economics and politics arent extremely useful to study as well. Lenin himself urged everyone to "read, read, read!" and went to Switzerland to read Hegel when World War 1 broke out.
Parker Russell
wow dude, a Lenin quote! I'd check if the National Review is hiring if I were you
Jace Williams
Yeah, I'll get up at five o'clock in stead of seven so I can read theory before work in the dark. This won't have any ill effects whatsoever.
It's bad enough that I have to get up at an unnatural hour, but you would make it even worse.
Ryder Campbell
Nah, let's read irrelevant another irrelevant pamphlet written 100 years ago.
Leo Perez
Definitely not saying that user. What I mean is that we can read as much theory as we want, but it won't actually change the world for the better. Having an understanding is important, but putting that understanding in action is even more important.
"Every Communist must grasp the truth; "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." -Mao
Zachary Cooper
One is better off reading and fully comprehending 10 pages a day than trying to slog through 100 pages because that's the threshold you've set. It's also a far more reasonable goal for someone who works full time.
Henry Smith
Neither will your small unit tactics if it isn't part of a revolutionary movement.
Zachary Gonzalez
>Socialism is not a religion, and Marx Stalin is not a prophet. FTFY
Ethan Brooks
I'm not arguing that at all.
See
Luis Powell
Reading sure is nice and all, but we could just as damn well put the knowladge to use, make due it's appeal to the masses, raise and rally more individuals, intellectuals or who not. Simply said we just as damn well ought to manifest it, there's only so much that can be expressed through words when there are deeds to compliment them and vice versa.
Of course it'd be but all for nothing without study and practice, it's just that considering own awareness in the matter, we'd best make sure to spark more interest in those who lack the inner curiosity towards what we deem common sense.
Nicholas Evans
I'm almost a 28 year old NEET and all the reading I'm doing is worthless under capitalism, honestly. I don't read strictly trash or literature or any of that kind of stuff but considering I'll never be able to afford college I won't be able to further any knowledge in the STEM stuff I'm interested in.
It's a bit depressing for me.
Luis Murphy
Good post OP. Though I have to agree with about the somewhat arbitrary page quota. Maybe hours per day would be a better way to push yourself. Also, read Trotsky
Nicholas Rodriguez
If you can't get up at 5am, which is when our ancestors got up because that's when the sun comes up, then it's probably because you're staying up for hours and hours past sun down and using artificial light - which is, in fact, unnatural. You're robbing yourself of your human potential by staying up late and getting up late like a machine. Early to bed, early to rise.
