https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/may/18.htm

wtf did he mean by backward countries ?

I fell off the wagon trying to read theory myself last time, so sign me up for the Cowbee's course group.

I'd like to join in on the Cowbee's list group. I started making my way through the list in one of its earliest iterations and lost steam in Imperialism. Maybe some comrades to read with will help keep me motivated!

It's full of blue fascists

🫡

Done for LSC

I recommend posting this on c/socialism as well. That comm seems to get more engagement. .world's c/latestagecapitalism may also be beneficial, though most on that are defederated from Hexbear so it would mostly be agitprop.

I hope as many people join as possible! With that being said, I will also be participating, as I have not yet done a step-by-step readthrough myself. I will actively be looking for feedback on improvements. Primarily, I wish to ruthlessly cut what does not add tremendously to the guide, as I firmly believe the goal of this guide is to equip people with the basic knowledge needed to join an organization active in their areas, and carry on your studies with the party you join.

I also think this list will be very helpful both for new comrades that have not studied much, as well as comrades that have studied a lot. I have included lesser-read works that I believe deserve study and discussion. Each weak, I will give my thought process on why I included each work, why they have their place, and whether or not I think they should be taken out or replaced.

I will be reading everyone's comments eagerly, and cannot wait to study alongside everyone! The same goes for the Sovietology group, I learned a lot, and cannot wait to learn more!

And most if not all, like Mamdani, will abandon certain principles like anti-Zionism immediately. The party is also poised to do all it can to oppose this - expect more Fettermans. If you think an anti-Zionist will win the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, I have a bridge to sell you.

🤦‍♂️ Do you believe that today? Would a minority fellow back then?

The Dutch. Yuck.

I mean Marx never saw how recrudescent against societal changes the status quo in the US is. And that excerpt proves that.

What? From what I've read, Marx had a pretty positive impression of America overall, and thought it was one of the few countries where the workers could seize the means of production peacefully:

You know that the institutions, mores, and traditions of various countries must be taken into consideration, and we do not deny that there are countries -- such as America, England, and if I were more familiar with your institutions, I would perhaps also add Holland -- where the workers can attain their goal by peaceful means.

Marx, Sep. 8, 1872

Where did he say otherwise?

One thing I think is a good place to start is building social connections.

this drives me bonkers when people tell me to do this because the parts of spectrum i inhabit invariably leads to people gatekeeping me out of any social gathering or group -- there are other ways to contribute.

the last 30 years of trying to do this have taught me that there's a SIGNIFICANT number of people who are gatekept out of fold because of their neurospicey behaviors and it seems to be most frequently done at the hands of other neurospicey people considering how many flock to leftism.

I think the DSA's strategy of trying to take over the Democratic Party is showing itself to be a failure

How so? Many DSA candidates won Democratic primaries, and several even won their races yesterday.

Not written into the DNA but embedded in the very atoms and waves they breathe and consume. Marx had never seen a society so atomized (and so alienated, so fetishized) as the American one and so efficient to suppress dialectical movements, like a perfectly tuned negative feedback loop. Or a buffer solution.

I don’t believe in an “American communist” because your set of ethical and moral values - not to mention your forms of socialization and even fulfillment - are very alien to communism.

Who specifically are you talking about? Western Marxists? Because if so, then I might agree, though your argument is quite vague, so it’s hard to say.

One could even say that the mental processes of Americans are very different from those of the ordinary human being in general. You don’t swap out a ROM stuck in a blob of epoxy. That is the American mentality.

This sounds rather essentialist and non-dialectical, as if it were written into their DNA.

I don't believe in an "American communist" because your set of ethical and moral values - not to mention your forms of socialization and even fulfillment - are very alien to communism.

One could even say that the mental processes of Americans are very different from those of the ordinary human being in general. You don't swap out a ROM stuck in a blob of epoxy. That is the American mentality.

But whatever the mitigated right-wing political form you call socialism that you want to make prevail, the solution is to occupy spaces.

Totally. But being right isn't enough. We have to assess what their actual options are, what they think their options are, what the masses think their options are, and how the contradictions that exist will create opportunities for consciousness raising, for organizing, for propaganda, for agitation, etc

The Ds might try some Keynesian intervention a la FDR. What might that look like and where will it struggle against the present where it did not 80 years ago?

This is much harder to do now. The US has deindustrialized, empire is in decay, and re-racializing the Keynesian treats (e.g. redlining) would not be very popular.

That may be the case. I do think that seeing that fail will probably radicalize some, so I'm not going to say it's pointless. Probably most of the people gunning for that sincerely aren't actually members, just more of the self-ascribed "socialists" I mentioned before.

Tbf I don’t think “taking over the Democratic Party” in the plan for DSA. Maybe some on the right end, but I would say most leaders and membership see it more as a vehicle for class consciousness.

What is to be done? Build the party of the working class.

In all seriousness though, we cannot even take for granted that self-described "socialists" in the imperial core are anti-capitalist. We need to build a real worker's party, and we need to educate people on what socialism is and why it would benefit them. I think the DSA's strategy of trying to take over the Democratic Party is showing itself to be a failure, as I think it was bound to be from the start.

One thing I think is a good place to start is building social connections. I think there could be a lot of space in reviving the left-wing social club. The average US citizen is extremely isolated, and one way we can fight against that isolation is finding ways to rebuild that social network we've lost. I'm talking about building clubs where the socialist perspective dominates but isn't always the focus.

I mean, I could just rattle off a list here, just off the top of my head:

• Parenting clubs
• Sporting clubs
• Reading groups
• Health clubs or neurodivergent & disabled support groups
• Wilderness clubs
• Gaming clubs

I think we can also draw inspiration from sources like the survival programs of the BPP for example.

The infiltration strategy is a lost cause. You cannot implement socialism within the boundaries of a capitalist state, and the people are the engine of revolution, meaning they themselves have to be socialist-minded and aware. You cannot "trick" people into socialism, this would collapse any goodwill a worker party had.