Preferably would like some stuff on Lenin and the Russian Revolution, Maoism and the Chinese Revolution, Palestine and the PFLP, settler-colonialism and anti-colonialism, precarious and migrant labor organizing, and the Philippine Revolution.
-Always set low amounts of pages, especially to start with. You've already mentioned this one... Short articles like 'The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism' are useful. If you like you can set a few of these for one week instead of a single longer piece. It's better that a lot of people do at least one of the shorter readings, rather than nobody doing a single long reading.
-Whenever possible have photocopies of the readings to give to people. People who haven't done the readings will stick around if they can bury their head in something and not look like dopes. They'll browse the readings they didn't do, listen to others, maybe highlight a few passages. Better than nothing. I realise this involves some $ for printing/photocopying. You could even send people pdf excerpts you've prepared and ask people to print it themselves maybe?
-Don't be afraid to do excerpts of larger pieces. Why not read, say, The Fetishism of Commodities and The Secret Thereof from Vol 1 of Capital. Nobody except nerds would want to do something like Capital 1 chapter by chapter for months. Give them a taste of something and maybe they'll do the rest on their own time. Obviously this works best if the person guiding the reading group is familiar with the full text, as people invariably make mistakes when something is taken out of a larger context.
Edited by Chthonic_Goat_666 ()
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/index.htm
The way Marxists.org has it published also works pretty well on phones, which I think would really help with accessibility.
MarxUltor posted:The Little Red Book... it's just the best book period.
Uh.. ever heard of The Bible???
this was a solid read (thanks MarianneSadd) and one i would definitely recommend as a basic introduction to dialectical materialism
like you could use excerpts of the pinochet file for a number of things: neoliberalism, us/latin america policy, the intersection of corporate interests and foreign policy, the deep state, etc.
or, of course, killing hope.
maybe even more valuable here would be to build towards illustrating the simple human suffering that is enabled (and, you could emphasize, required) by transnational capital.
the shock doctrine is also digestible enough for people who are just sort of wading into those waters as well. probably a really feasible group read
Edited by insta_gramsci ()
e: idk if this was mentioned but if youre photocopying, take a second to make one copy, highlight some things you think are important in the text (this is where reading ahead helps too), then make the rest of the copies off the highlighted text. I usually hang onto this, stick it in a folder with some other educational materials so you can use it later.
Edited by Urbandale ()
Urbandale posted:when picking readings, give yourself enough time to read the sections before you assign them
lol
EmanuelaBrolandi posted:Urbandale posted:when picking readings, give yourself enough time to read the sections before you assign them
lol
i mean, most new commies are young, either working or halfway through school, and are pretty busy in general. ive been to plenty of meetings where the lead read the book a while ago, but they werent reading a section ahead of the rest of the club, they were just keeping pace. its a minor thing and it seems obvious but it isnt
djbk posted:get fiscal what do you think about fr kavanaugh's following christ in a consumer society? I liked it a lot. What should I check out next (more christ, less consumerism)
i read it and it kind of sucked. don't remember much about it but it was definitely not marxist and erased class
mark 14:4-7
some good shit there, you goofy turbonerds
also, what's a good intro to stalin's theoretical works?