I’m looking for specific suggestions of what I can do to find a group that I can join for the purpose of building a real revolution inside the USA. I’m trying and finding it very difficult. The closest was PSL but honestly my local branch seems kind of limp. That and I’m not academically inclined enough to get through Capital.
Stop being a prick. I literally asked you, in earnest, for reading recommendations. I’m not “trying to birth the revolution fully formed from [my] forehead”, I’m trying to understand what are the ML strategies that make it attainable. I haven’t actually asked what the revolution will look like, I’m asking what your movement is doing to prepare for this eventuality. Because it is a revolutionary ideology, yes? Is it or is it not an eventuality? If it is, then I think you should be allowed to talk about it.
I am still not discrediting Capital nor the value it has for building a greater understanding. I just don’t think it has the specific answers I’m looking for right this moment. Again, feel free to tell I’m wrong about that. But I should be able to determine my own path to understanding even if it’s out of order from the way you learned, because we’re different people with different thought processes and different material conditions. If I can’t, then what you have is not an ideology built on theory but a religion built on doctrine.
Either that or your username is accurate and I should just downvote and ignore you.
Part of why I’m adamantly refusing to discuss theory or history with you is that you do not have the background for it. Birthing fully formed from the forehead is a reference to the interpretation of Greek myth wherein Athena is borne from the forehead of Zeus. In the context that I used it, describing your desire to completely hold communism in your mind or dismiss it outright, it’s a little joke meant to poke fun at how idealism (which comes from the Greeks) is pretty silly. I made that joke because it can be seen as an insult to be called idealist and I wanted to make a funny to lighten the mood and also make the point that what modern day liberals think of idealism isn’t what we’re talking about in a Marxist context.
You asked in your comment that I just replied to what the preparations for the revolution look like. I’m not trying to hit you with a gotcha there, I’m pointing it out so you will recognize that you’re not replying from a calm and considered position that you can learn from, but from a defensive, self loathing perspective. You’ve implied that you were “stupid” and “uneducated” all over our conversation. I have gone right past those claims because they’re not worth engaging with.
You have to learn the basics if you want to understand something. If that feels like too much work you can just dismiss the thing and do something else. You have reiterated over and over again that you want an answer, not to learn or understand. I was not trying to insult you all the times that I told you to just go do something else.
It wouldn’t matter if I told you that I thought you were wrong and that you should actually join a reading and discussion group and read capital. You won’t do it. You said you wouldn’t do it. You said you just want to get answers. I said “okay, go do something else then.”
You can’t effectively determine your own path to understanding. That’s a debunked pedagogical myth that will cause you lots of wasted time and energy. We build on other people’s knowledge and experience in the form of teaching for a reason. Self directed learning is possible but you can’t make an end run around the basics.
At this point you have to be willfully misunderstanding what I’m saying. I haven’t called myself stupid or uneducated. I called myself less educated (unexplicitly in regards to ML thought), though even uneducated doesn’t reflect so much on me as it does my environment. And what I was saying is a movement for the masses has to be able to connect with the masses, which will include stupid (non-derogatory) people. I never once said that I won’t read Capital. That’s a faulty assumption you made. I just think it’s a bit ridiculous for that to be the entry point. You also have made no argument for why Capital has to be the entry point. I never said I just want answers, except in regards to what actions your movement is taking. Why would I ask for book recommendations if not to learn and understand?
Also you misquoted yourself and contradicted yourself in that first paragraph. You revolution was birthed not communism. And calling idealism “pretty silly” is insulting when you also said my thoughts come from idealism, thoughts that are not intended to be silly.
If my original post had said that I have a learning disability, would that have changed your response?