this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
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most working class people cannot read well, let alone theory, have no material time to read, or if, they do, they don't have the mental energy or continuity to get to the end of it, grapple alone on how to turn that into action and find a path for themselves. It's very individualistic, good for the privileged who organize out of aspiration rather than out of necessity. Any serious org, to the people coming to offer help, should answer: "this is John, he will teach you how to do X and Y, and why this is important. Get to work". Anything else is designed for an intellectual, individualistic minority that never gets shit done.
You need both theory and practice together. Practice sharpens theory, theory guides practice. You don't have to be a grandmaster Marxist-Leninist with decades of theory under your belt to do good work. A large part of organizing involves training and educating comrades, for example, you even hint at it. Many orgs require a protracted training period before even being a full member, such as PSL or FRSO.
What's classist would be shutting out the working class from theory, keeping it purely for the vanguard. Many existing communist orgs have run into this problem, and resolved it in various ways. Theory is for the working class, not for a privledged few, so the good vanguards have managed to make theory approachable and digestible.
No problem with that. My problem is with people who expect to start from theory as if that it's a relatable and normal thing to do.
I'd say it's definitely a "normal" thing to do. A lot of people don't understand the importance of organizing until they've read a bit of theory, and saying they were wrong to do so, or framing them as privledged, isn't the right path. There are two "wrong" camps, those who only read theory, and those who only do practice, though the practice camp is less incorrect. The correct group is the group that tries to balance both.
that's exactly why others are here to talk to and explain it to people.
there is a variety of ways you can learn politics from audiobooks to youtube to finding them irl as mentioned, if you prefer other ways of absorbing information. books are only the better source imo.
the thing people do need is wanting to learn. which I assume is what OP wants. its impossible to do political work without knowing the politics you are working to build.