Normalizing Marxist theory as an approachable thing to read is important for onboarding a certain kind of person.
Many people never even read the Manifesto because they think it’s akin to reading Mein Kampf. It doesn’t help that many associate the word “manifesto” with unhinged ravings a la Ted Kaczynski.
Literally just reading Marx with an open mind is what it took for me. I’m sure I could psychoanalyze some more from my past, but ultimately, Marxist theory stands on its own and is proven to connect with many types of people around the world.
In order for something to be normal, it has to be casual. So my suggestion is don’t be afraid to talk about communist ideas, but also don’t be weird or aggressive about it.
Sometimes I feel like telling people to read Marx is setting them up for failure. Idk maybe I’m just not smart but I find the way Marx writes to just be… so obtuse. I read Engels and the difference was like night and day, so much easier to understand.
Are there people who have rewritten e.g. Capital to be not awful? Because if I struggle with other works of Marx, I don’t think there’s any hope of me reading Capital.
I fully concede that reading won’t work for everyone. Only some types of people, I suspect especially (but not exclusively) college educated types, which describes many liberals.
Anyone is susceptible who genuinely works at developing their political thought. Even if right now they are obsessed with Libertarianism or some other vulgar economics, someone who is already book-smart will be more likely to grasp Capital.
People not matching the above description might be better swayed with direct organizing. I think that the vast majority of Marxists across the globe, historically, have understood the basic conclusions of Marxism intuitively from their own experience and not from reading a book.
Anyway, perhaps your issue with the style of Capital is due to the translation you read?
Any book translated from the original language has to trade off between precision and flow. I personally like the style of the original Aveling and Moore translation that is free on marxists.org, but I think many people prefer the more modern English of the Penguin edition (Fowkes). I haven’t spent enough time to know if one is objectively “better.”
The first three parts of Capital are hard, after that it’s just hundreds of pages of examples packed with dialectical materialist theory and is generally a lot easier to read. I’m thinking now that I’ll finish Capital and then start reading it from the beginning again. I also use VoiceDreamReader to read it to me.
Normalizing Marxist theory as an approachable thing to read is important for onboarding a certain kind of person.
Many people never even read the Manifesto because they think it’s akin to reading Mein Kampf. It doesn’t help that many associate the word “manifesto” with unhinged ravings a la Ted Kaczynski.
Literally just reading Marx with an open mind is what it took for me. I’m sure I could psychoanalyze some more from my past, but ultimately, Marxist theory stands on its own and is proven to connect with many types of people around the world.
In order for something to be normal, it has to be casual. So my suggestion is don’t be afraid to talk about communist ideas, but also don’t be weird or aggressive about it.
Wage Labor and Capital is probably a better recommendation because it seems less unhinged to a lib.
💯
Its so corny to hear people talk about it like a redditor or like you were a guy from mid 1800s in real life
I totally agree but please use plain language
I literally have no idea what in his comment would prompt you to post thisI assume they are elaborating the last sentence I wrote, not commenting on the way I personally stated things
Ahhh, that makes sense. I was like
reading your comment and trying to figure out what was objectionable about it
Ye i try to post well meaning things nothing malicious my bad if i got you
Sometimes I feel like telling people to read Marx is setting them up for failure. Idk maybe I’m just not smart but I find the way Marx writes to just be… so obtuse. I read Engels and the difference was like night and day, so much easier to understand.
Are there people who have rewritten e.g. Capital to be not awful? Because if I struggle with other works of Marx, I don’t think there’s any hope of me reading Capital.
I fully concede that reading won’t work for everyone. Only some types of people, I suspect especially (but not exclusively) college educated types, which describes many liberals.
Anyone is susceptible who genuinely works at developing their political thought. Even if right now they are obsessed with Libertarianism or some other vulgar economics, someone who is already book-smart will be more likely to grasp Capital.
People not matching the above description might be better swayed with direct organizing. I think that the vast majority of Marxists across the globe, historically, have understood the basic conclusions of Marxism intuitively from their own experience and not from reading a book.
Anyway, perhaps your issue with the style of Capital is due to the translation you read?
Any book translated from the original language has to trade off between precision and flow. I personally like the style of the original Aveling and Moore translation that is free on marxists.org, but I think many people prefer the more modern English of the Penguin edition (Fowkes). I haven’t spent enough time to know if one is objectively “better.”
The first three parts of Capital are hard, after that it’s just hundreds of pages of examples packed with dialectical materialist theory and is generally a lot easier to read. I’m thinking now that I’ll finish Capital and then start reading it from the beginning again. I also use VoiceDreamReader to read it to me.