Maoist Communist Union (U.S.A.)

On Study

Introduction

After launching the rectification campaign we’ve started to get at some deeper issues in our organization overall and with individual comrades. We now have more insight, in particular, into the dearth of deep understanding of MLM within our organization, and there is an urgent need for a big push across the organization and from each individual member to deepen and improve our understanding. Reforming our methods of study will be key for doing this. Each individual comrade has a responsibility to ensure that they get the most they can out of group studies by preparing notes, reading carefully, discussing the reading with comrades before the meeting, consulting outside resources, etc. Additionally, each individual comrade has a responsibility to carry on a lively and engaged independent study to address their own individual weaknesses and blind spots. Adopting a proletarian approach to these two tasks, group and individual study, will require us all to engage in a long-term struggle to transform our habits and our approach, to challenge deeply held ideas about our own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and to develop study skills that we currently lack. Here we present a breakdown of how this series of struggles should be approached as well as a curated reading list of material for comrades’ independent study.


The Problem

MCU is an MLM organization, meaning that it affirms and upholds MLM as its guiding ideology. Our overall organizational grasp of MLM is apparent in our documents and statements, in our relations with other groups in the ICM, and so on, but the actual grasp of MLM by individual comrades in our ranks is very uneven. This problem has become obvious given how comrades have at times struggled not even with just analyzing new phenomena and applying Marxism to new questions, but with internalizing, explaining, and then defending the positions that we already hold. In other words, some comrades’ grasp of MLM is tenuous enough that they are not able to understand our line to the degree necessary to creatively explain or argue for it.1

All of this shows that there is a clear and obvious need for more comrades to work hard to improve their theoretical level, their grasp of MLM. Comrades must also develop, in dialectical relation to deepening their understanding, their ability to apply Marxism in a living fashion to the world around them and to themselves.

What do we mean by “applying Marxism?” Does it mean pointing over here and saying “this is concrete labor” and pointing over there and saying “that’s imperialism?” Well, no. As Lenin put it:

That which constitutes the very gist, the living soul, of Marxism—[is] a concrete analysis of a concrete situation.2

Comrades would do well to reflect on the meaning of this quote. Lenin speaks of the living soul of Marxism, i.e. the thing which, if removed, turns Marxism from a living tool wielded by the proletariat to carry on the class struggle into something stultified and dead. Lenin speaks not of a particular political point or idea (the need for the DoP, Bolshevism, etc) but rather of the approach taken, which is actively and boldly analyzing the objective world around us. Mao expressed this well when he said:

The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should regard it not as a dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution. It is not just a matter of understanding the general laws derived by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin from their extensive study of real life and revolutionary experience, but of studying their standpoint and method in examining and solving problems.3

To take up the approach that Mao discusses, to make concrete analyses of the concrete situations we’re in, we’ll need both deep knowledge of revolutionary history and theory and a determination to apply it actively to analyze the world. Can we possibly have any hope of understanding our tasks with respect to the trade unions if we’re ignorant not only of the debates that have taken place historically between Communists on the topic, but even of the most basic elements of history of how Communist parties have handled this question? If we don’t know this history, and beyond just knowing it if we’re not able to actively apply it here and now, we will obviously be groping in the dark and repeating errors. It would be too simple to think that if we just understand, in general, the approach that Mao speaks of we’ll be able to analyze situations in front of us—we also must have a profound understanding of the key lessons of the class struggle in order to do so. So for these reasons we all must take up the struggle to improve our methods of study.

All that said, before addressing how to improve our study we need to oppose numerous possible deviations that can arise.

Scattershot, enthusiasm-driven and manic study: Comrades who study in this way are driven along by enthusiasm alone, and might pick up books but never finish them, accumulate dozens and dozens of tabs “to read later” on their computers, and in short become interested in a new thing every day but fail to follow through on anything long enough to develop serious and deep knowledge. They may have somewhat deep knowledge on one or two topics, but very surface level knowledge on most things. This approach to study is encouraged in some sections of academia, where surface-level knowledge is encouraged, and posturing, rather than deep study, is the norm.

Pragmatic, anti-intellectual attitudes: Comrades who take up this attitude see study as a box to check off, but when they are doing it they are itching to get back to what they view as the “real work.” In group studies they make one or two comments, but they don’t actively participate or push the conversation forward, and don’t air their confusions to achieve collective clarity. Their attitude seeps into all other political work. They view their activity on signal as sufficient political activity, they study what they’re told and often lack enthusiasm derived from their own genuine interest in Marxism. They repeatedly shy away from theoretical and higher order political questions, and instead busy themselves with practical work and logistical questions. This type of comrade is lead by ideas of capitalist productivity. They conflate the execution of work with the political necessity of work, they are driven to complete and not to ensure correctness, and they confuse their protestant work ethic, their spirit to “do work” with the spirit of Marxism. This attitude is particularly prominent in the U.S. because of American pragmatism and anti-intellectualism, and it should be firmly opposed within our ranks. To comrades taking up this approach we must emphasize that importance of study for carrying out our key political tasks and for keeping our organization on the revolutionary path.

Study for individual gratification: We have had comrades in our ranks who were motivated to carry out individual study, and although they perhaps fell into something of the manic approach outlined above, they did gather up materials, read them, dive into questions raised by those materials, and generally studied a lot about topics they felt interested in. But however in depth this study was, it was untethered from organizational questions or the input of other comrades, and so although in form it could be understood as just ‘learning more about Marxism’ in essence it was an individualist and self-centered exercise in intellectual gratification. This approach is obviously influenced by academia, where one studies in isolation most of the time and then occasionally meets up with others to, with great pomp and circumstance, reveal the amazing new insights that one has come to, and where it is entirely possible to entertain interesting intellectual questions which are of no importance at all. Comrades taking up this approach don’t need to entirely give up their interest in history or theoretical questions, but they need to make a firm break with the individual approach and should instead think more about how to relate their individual study to organizational concerns.

There are more possible deviations here that we could outline, and some comrades will fall into one of these deviations only at times, or may fall into more than one of them. The point in outlining them is not to exhaustively describe all of the ways that comrades’ approach to study can be incorrect, but rather to provide some material to help comrades reflect critically on their own approach to study. How are you deciding what to read? How disciplined are you in your reading, and with maintaining your focus? Are you bringing up questions your interested in with other comrades, and relating your study to organizational problems and efforts? Are you actively addressing your weak spots and boldly trying to learn new things, or are you sticking with what’s comfortable? Comrades should be asking themselves these questions and actively working to improve their approach to study.

Improving our approach to study across the organization is essential because we cannot continue to rely on a few leading members to carry the entire organization theoretically. We will always have theoretical unevenness, and it is actually a really good thing to have leading members who are very solid theoretically. They can make big contributions in this area, and it is not inherently a problem to have some comrades who are more theoretically equipped than others, nor is the goal of reforming our study to make sure that everyone is equally theoretically advanced. Rather, at present we have a much lower level of understanding of theory than is required, we have too large of a gulf in theoretical ability between our leadership and the rank and file, and we urgently need to take steps to improve this.

A lot of problems result from our over-reliance on a few, theoretically equipped comrades. Without a strong theoretical background comrades will struggle able to act independently in a wide range of scenarios, since their low level of theoretical understanding impedes their ability to independently analyze the world around them. This hamstrings our ability as an organization to move forward, and means that senior comrades who are more theoretically equipped are constantly called in to fix issues. Without sharp junior comrades, the shortcomings and blindspots of leading comrades may be magnified, and mistakes they make can go unchecked for longer. If junior comrades aren’t theoretically developed the analysis and reporting they pass to senior comrades will be compromised, threatening our overall ability to chart a path forward, the health of our organization, and our ability to carry out DC.

There is accordingly a need to change this. We need redundancy in leadership. The leading comrades that we have at present are not immortal or infallible, so we must have an approach that brings forward new theoretically equipped comrades who can independently analyze the work around them and help chart a course forward. As Mao once put it:

In order to guarantee that our Party and country do not change their color, we must not only have a correct line and correct policies but must train and bring up millions of successors who will carry on the cause of proletarian revolution. In the final analysis, the question of training successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat is one of whether or not there will be people who can carry on the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary cause started by the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries, whether or not the leadership of our Party and state will remain in the hands of proletarian revolutionaries, whether or not our descendants will continue to march along the correct road laid down by Marxism-Leninism, or, in other words, whether or not we can successfully prevent the emergence of Khrushchov’s revisionism in China. In short, it is an extremely important question, a matter of life and death for our Party and our country. It is a question of fundamental importance to the proletarian revolutionary cause for a hundred, a thousand, nay ten thousand years.4

Additionally, the basic work that we’re doing at present, such as carrying out studies, investigating the semi-Marxist milieu to win people over, etc, is greatly hampered by our present lack of theoretical development. How can comrades effectively explain and defend our political line if they don’t have sufficient background to fully understand it?5 How can they teach others about Marxism if they themselves are unsure on the basics? Obviously they will run into difficulties!

Addressing the Problem

In order to reform our study comrades will need to carry out a series of struggles and transformations at different levels. Making advances at a given level will then open up new problems and make it possible to advance more in terms of study skills, time spent studying, etc. But comrades should take care to not put the cart before the horse. They should think carefully about the actual problems that are in front of them right now with study, and they should work to solve those problems, while having an eye to other problems they’ll face in the future. They should also pay attention to the various possible deviations outlined above, and strive not to fall into unsystematic or scattered approaches to study.

First Struggle: to study or not to study?

Some comrades are simply not making time to study. This is the first and most basic struggle that needs to be waged: comrades need to choose to study and then wage a long-term struggle to change their basic habits concerning their schedule and approach to daily life to ensure that they have time to study regularly.

This is the most basic struggle to be waged because if comrades cannot win this struggle then all other questions with regard to study are pretty much irrelevant. No number of reading lists and no amount of identifying weak areas theoretically will help comrades advance if they don’t first decide to study regularly and the struggle to carry out that decision over the long term.

In waging this struggle it will be important for comrades who currently don’t make any or very much time for study to understand the underlying ideas and outlook behind their current attitude of neglect. Has the reason why it’s necessary not been made sufficiently clear? Are there underlying disagreements with the importance of study, such as an attitude rooted in American pragmatism and anti-intellectualism that disdains theory in favor of practical action? Are comrades just afflicted with petty-bourgeois laziness, and inured to nominal unity? Whatever the case may be, it will be necessary to discuss these underlying ideas with other comrades in order to come to greater clarity and thereby better guide the struggle to change ones habits and approach to study.

Comrades whose main struggle really is developing any habit of regularly reading should start by picking a key historical text and just force themselves to read through it. Red Star Over China and Fanshen are great options, but comrades could select anything from the included list of historical texts. At this point it’s not helpful to spend a lot of time worrying about what to read, instead spend your time struggling to read it. If you change your study habits you’ll be able to dramatically increase the amount of time you spend reading, at which point you can work more on where you should be reading.

Comrades who do not currently have a habit of studying or reading regularly should probably expect to spend somewhere between a few weeks and a few months changing their habits. It won’t be hard for some comrades, for others it may be pretty hard. A lot of us are busy and have a lot of demands on our time. Additionally, some of us are pretty solidified in our current habits of not studying that much. Others of us study occasionally, and just need to do a bit more.

Whatever the case, it’s important to carry this struggle through and see it as a struggle to change our habits, to consciously shape our inclination and the way we go about our days. Just as we can give up a harmful habit like smoking, or take up regular exercise, so too we can consciously develop a habit of studying that we eventually stick to automatically. If you go on long enough eventually a day where you don’t get any reading time will feel like a strange anomaly!

Second Struggle: identify areas of weakness

Following the “are we going to take study seriously and do it or not” struggle, comrades need to assess the particular areas of weakness that they have and orient their study towards these weaknesses in light of organizational needs.

This is realistically something some comrades who have some study habits can launch into right away, others should focus first on developing a habit of regularly doing independent reading. Included in this document is a reading list6 with suggested texts in a bunch of areas, these can provide a good starting point.

Comrades should read lots of books about key things. For instance, there are over 60 texts mentioned in this list about the Chinese revolution—cadre in MCU should have read and internalized the main points of a good deal of these books, they are really the basics in terms of key points of what happened in China. What exactly qualifies as a “key thing” to study will vary a bit from comrade to comrade, and should also be considered in light of current organizational needs. For instance, if a comrade it starting work in a union and also doesn’t know much about the history of the US labor movement then it would likely be a good idea to read first on that topic, even if that comrade also needs to learn more philosophy and political economy.

When we identify a weakness and want to improve in that area we should relentlessly strive to answer our questions, to seek out new books to read, ask comrades to talk it over, etc. We need to become obsessed with Marxism and in particular obsessed with learning more in areas that we’re currently weak.

Third Struggle: building critical reading comprehension

The third level which plays out in the longer term is the struggle to increase our reading comprehension and ability to grapple with dense theoretical material like philosophy. Closely related is the struggle to develop an ability to critically engage with texts, subjecting them to active scrutiny and sorting out what is correct and incorrect in a particular historical or theoretical text.

Some comrades have had more academic training than others, and some comrades’ academic training was in STEM fields like mathematics, physics, computer science, etc which are particularly helpful for dealing rigorously with theory. Other comrades became obsessed with reading at a young age and were voracious readers. These comrades will, generally speaking, have an easier time dealing with theoretical texts. Other comrades do not have significant academic training that helps to prepare them to deal with texts like Capital, and likewise some other comrades didn’t have a period when they were young when they read a huge amount. These are some of the aspects of comrades’ backgrounds which lead to some comrades having a stronger ability to deal with theory when they join MCU than others, and for these reasons there will necessarily be a significant amount of unevenness in comrades’ reading comprehension within our organization.

This is nothing to get discouraged about! It’s actually a result of the rotten way our society is set up where from a young age some of us are marked off for performing mental labor and given relevant training, and others of us are not. So if we struggle with reading comprehension we should not take it all upon ourselves as a personal failing, but rather we should direct our anger at this rotten economic system, rotten society, and the rotten education system we were all put through. However, we also should not rest complacent and think “well I wasn’t educated well when I was young, so I’ll never get this stuff.” That’s bullshit! We already know how to read, and all that we need to do in order to build up our reading comprehension is simply read harder books7 and struggle to understand them. All of our comrades will be able to do this and will be able to thereby increase their reading level over time, without exception.

Even for comrades who do have a lot more experience with reading difficult texts, it’s not a given that they can read those texts critically. There’s two components to this ability: 1) sufficient reading comprehension, focus, and a drive to understand8 that we can read a more difficult text like Capital and understand what Marx is saying without having to have all the main points explained by another comrade and 2) a critical approach where points in the text are actively linked up with, measured against, and assessed in relation to our pre-existing knowledge of the world and specifically of what we already understand of MLM theory and revolutionary history. If comrades merely read texts as gospel, it will be no good! Even if comrades are able to regurgitate key points it won’t be something they can actively apply and use to analyze the world around them, and instead those comrades will end up parroting points from the text dogmatically instead of making a living and vibrant analysis of the concrete situation in front of them.

The goods news is that we can do something about this, however, it is not going to be an instantaneous or overnight change. It’s going to be somewhat like exercise—we can choose to try hard and push ourselves in exercise, but we need to sustain that decision over time in order to get in better shape and develop athletically. So too with developing our ability to read critically—we must choose to work on this, but we’ll have to struggle over time to sustain that, to assess how we’re reading things, and to develop our ability to focus. For improving our reading comprehension, comrades should try some exercises to more objectively assess their level of comprehension, such as writing a summary of the main points from memory after reading a chapter, leaving the reading aside for a time, and then re-reading the chapter and assessing how accurate the summary was. This can make it obvious where our blindspots are and therefore where we need to struggle to pay more attention. Over time, by spending more and more time actively and critically reading, and especially reading difficult texts, comrades will be able to develop both their comprehension and their ability to read critically.

All of our comrades must actively take up the struggle to improve their study. This will be tremendously helpful for our work and for our organization overall, as historically we have always had too few comrades who are capable of independently grappling with and applying MLM. This makes it difficult for a consistent struggle against lackey-ism and deference to be carried out, and relatedly it is part of the basis for opportunists to use their supposed theoretical abilities to lord it over other comrades and undermine our political unity around MLM. All of us have a responsibility to the people to deepen our study habits and thereby help to eliminate these key problems from our work.

So let’s go comrades!

Let’s stop accepting that we can’t learn things, and boldly charge forward! 

Let’s dare to read and dare to understand! 

Let’s apply Marxism to the world around us, and refuse to let revolutionary theory, the knowledge millions of our class have struggled and sacrificed for, be turned into stale dogma! 

Let’s consciously grasp our individual responsibility to take up this struggle!

Footnotes

  1. Difficulties doing so can of course arise for reasons besides lack of sufficient study and knowledge of MLM, but it’s nonetheless clear that insufficient grasp of MLM is one of the larger organizational shortcomings that we’re confronted with at present. ↩︎
  2. https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jun/12.htm ↩︎
  3. From The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_10.htm ↩︎
  4. Quoted in On Khrushchov’s Phony Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World (July 14,1964), pp. 72-74. ↩︎
  5. For instance, lack of theoretical development led to a lot of difficulties in the open study when participants brought up Settlers-type ideas. Because our comrades weren’t sufficiently prepared theoretically to understand and deal with those ideas they weren’t able to mount a confident and effective response to those ideas which could demonstrate the absurdity of the Settlers arguments against our work and our line. In a situation like this comrades will often fall back on slogans or organizational affiliation. ↩︎
  6. https://maoistcommunistunion.com/study-resources ↩︎
  7. It may be helpful for some comrades who have not read much literature to take up reading some more difficult novels in addition to reading theoretical and historical texts. In addition to being helpful for raising comrades’ cultural level, in well-crafted prose there will be dense, layered symbolism and creative use of language that will demand close attention of the reader if they’re to make sense of it. ↩︎
  8. This can be driven by some degree of enthusiasm, but over the long haul must be sustained by a deep internalization of the political need for revolutionary theory, of the related need for all of us to study, by clarity on the need to develop all-around leadership and consistently oppose lackey-ism and tendencies to defer to more theoretically developed comrades, etc. Consistently taking up study over the long haul is one of the ways in which we go beyond nominal agreement with these political points and struggle to actually put them into practice. ↩︎