Starting a Marxist reading / discussion group?

[panda77]

I am (tentitively) thinking of starting up a marxist reading / discussion group in my local area. I am keen to establish a group where the emphasis is on theory, learning and discussion rather than on party politics.

I see the group run as a sort of seminar format where texts would be read in advance and then discussed. There are many possibilities; a blog, film screenings, discussion of current events and so on. I feel my motivation is more in awareness raising and in giving people the chance to explore left wing ideas without being tied into a party.

I live in an area where few people have been to university and I would especially like to encourage people who haven't had the chance to study at that level to come along and engage intellectually with marxism, politics and philosophy is a safe and open enviroment.

What do you think of this idea? Is it worth persuing, have you been involved in such a group and if so how did it go, Do you have any advice about such a venture?

[OhYesIdid]

I only attend a weekly writers' workshop, and of course my revolutionary ideas spill into what I write, so I have often engaged in very civil and rewarding discussion regarding left-wing ideology.
Still, as far as your situation goes, I have never done anything like it, though I would recommend you go and see if there are any groups in your area where interesting and intelligent discussion happens.

That being said, how about starting with the basics? (capital, The Communist Manifiesto, On the origins of the Family....)

[panda77]

Thank you, I don't think anything quite like that happens outside of a party but I will ask around. Perhaps at the local uni.

[9]

I am (tentitively) thinking of starting up a marxist reading / discussion group in my local area. I am keen to establish a group where the emphasis is on theory, learning and discussion rather than on party politics.

I see the group run as a sort of seminar format where texts would be read in advance and then discussed. There are many possibilities; a blog, film screenings, discussion of current events and so on. I feel my motivation is more in awareness raising and in giving people the chance to explore left wing ideas without being tied into a party.

I live in an area where few people have been to university and I would especially like to encourage people who haven't had the chance to study at that level to come along and engage intellectually with marxism, politics and philosophy is a safe and open enviroment.

What do you think of this idea? Is it worth persuing, have you been involved in such a group and if so how did it go, Do you have any advice about such a venture?

I think its an excellent idea and you should definitely pursue it. If you don't mind my asking, are you in the US? If so, whereabouts (i.e. state, nearest big city)?

Personally, I'm involved with a small discussion group that's a lot like what you've described. We've been meeting regularly for around a year now, and overall its been a very good experience. The goal has actually become to try to reach enough clarity and internal agreement to move toward becoming a section of an established organization, but we're definitely not there yet.

Anyway, I would echo the suggestion from 'OhYesIdid' to 'start with the basics', but I'd add that 'Capital' is far from 'basic', and I would seriously discourage any attempt to 'start with' that. I've tried reading it on my own a couple different times, and bearing in mind I'm not that great with abstract theory, but honestly... its like, if you only knew a tiny bit of Spanish and you got super, super stoned and then tried to read Don Quixote de la Mancha... that's about what it felt like trying to read Capital. I just kept reading and rereading the same lines over and over and could never figure out wtf was being said lol.

But regarding the discussion group. Obviously you have to consider how to go about setting it up, and knowing nothing about you or your location etc., I don't really have any sense of what you have to work with. Have you been involved in any political work/actions/groups etc. in the past? Do you have any political contacts in the area? Do you know anyone else who has vaguely similar ideas to you or who you think might be interested in participating in something like this? This was basically how we got the base for our group; it started with me and one other person, and I had a few contacts in a neighboring city - a couple of them were interested, and they knew a couple other people in the area and that was it. We tried advertising around our respective cities, but nothing ever came of it and we've sort of moved past that for the time being.

But yeah, like I said, I definitely think its worth trying to put something together. Best of luck if you decide its what you want to do.

[Niccolò Rossi]

Thanks for posting this panda, congrats on wanting to pursue this. It's a great idea. I'm also a member of a discussion network here in Australia - the Internationalist Communist Affiliate Network (ICAN).

When approaching such a project there are alot of forms it can take - for example a discussion group which might begin with presentations given by group members around a particular theoretical topic or current event versus a strictly reading circle which has as it's aim the study of a particular text.

Like 9, I'd agree it's important to consider how you're going to get it started. While 9's group was an organic product of comrades already in contact who wanted to clarify amongst themselves, our group here in Aus was started a little differently. We tried to cast a large net, drawing in people from around the coutry who we might not be in direct contact with. To do this we published an 'appeal to sympathisers of the communist left in Australia' on a number of online forums, left communist organisations websites and passed it on through networks of email contacts. The success of our appeal in terms of drawing other people in wasn't especially successful, most of the people involved all knew each other in one way or another. That's how these things tend to work it seems.

The distinction might not be so clear, but it's about whether the basis of the group is the people involved (like 9's comrades) or some sort of minimum political criteria (the three points of agreement we set out in our appeal).

So yeah, knowing what you've been involved with in the past and where abouts you're based would probably help us give some more advice.

Nic.

[black magick hustla]

i am in a discussion group too. it appeared after certain leftist orgs dissolved as a protest against dumb fucking stupid leftist activism and some dudes having read nihil com. so we started a discussion group. i wouldn't call it left communist, or anarchist or whatever just kindof ultra-leftish and against leftism.

[OhYesIdid]

kindof ultra-leftish and against leftism.

lolwut

@9: Well, I would argue that a good grasp on Capital is necessary to carry through a socialist project, especially if you aim to ever "convert" someone over.

[Q]

I'm in two discussiongroups. One is established another one I'm trying to start. Because of the distances involved, we use (private) webforums in both cases, which do help a lot in setting up a frequency while also having flexibility of working on the subject when you have the time. Physical meetings however tend to be much more rich in that discussions trigger new insights much faster than is possible online.

It is certainly a good idea one way or another. Being a working class activist is a life filling purpose - in the sense it lasts your entire life, I'm not talking about "hyperactivsm" that some groups feature and tend to burn out and disillusion comrades fast - which means that you continually need to sharpen your ideas and extend you capabilities.

[stoneMonkey]

Sounds like a great idea to me. I wish I knew left people locally to do the same... Not counting the ones who are in groups where they only do things like that with the group, but to join the group, you have to sign up to their party line, and I want to have a reading group to discuss things to figure out what to believe. Etc catch-22. ;)