Marxist Scholars CircleBoard

Tobosarsk wrote:

1. Why isn't there an Engelism?
2. What's the difference between Marxism and Leninism?
3. How do you make borscht?

1.Marxism includes the works of Engels, don't ask me why but marx is more famous for some reason
2. Leninism is Marxism but more developed, focusing more on imperialism and the changing conditions of it's time, to my knowledge Marxism was more of a critique of capitalism than really theories on how to overthrow it, although marx and Engels were both very clear about the fact that violent revolution was necessary, and Lenin dealt a lot more with that

Marxist Scholar Vanguard wrote:

1, Because Engels was more of an editor and friend who expanded on Marx's ideas.

2, Theory vs practise.

3, Google it, we're not chefs here.

thanks

how do you google something :))) (jk)

Social democrat revisionist wrote:

what about anarchism is that allowed?

Anyone who identifies as leftist is welcome here to learn provided their intent is learning, however this is a project of the NSLeft. Nations that don't introduce themselves or act out will be ejected, this is a serious region for people who want to learn.

Nations who opted to be "teachers" in last week's poll have been elevated to become the regional officers of the new MSC. Congrats comrades!

I think reading some of the core primary texts could be really enlightening, I'd really like a reading group for Left-Wing Communism or The State and Revolution

I think focussing in on a smaller section or excerpts of such texts would be a more realistic and useful thing. It's better that we discuss it in depth and draw out analysis, criticism, and lessons rather than read whole pamphlets and books which will result in inaction and lack of direction which has plagued previous attempts to form NSLeft reading circles.

On the poll I think maybe a 4-5 week period will give a little bit more breathing room for some back and forth to occur and for every text to be discussed thoroughly before moving on.

All-union peoples republics wrote:

I think focussing in on a smaller section or excerpts of such texts would be a more realistic and useful thing. It's better that we discuss it in depth and draw out analysis, criticism, and lessons rather than read whole pamphlets and books which will result in inaction and lack of direction which has plagued previous attempts to form NSLeft reading circles.

I agree, I think this is what we had planned. In my opinion 2 weeks is plenty of time to spend on any topic, as it stretches out to 3 or 4 weeks, people will get bored/lose interest.

What about something like, a "teacher" or volunteer may post; "This week (or 2 or 3) we'll chat about national liberation/colonialism. Here are some works (3-4 paragraphs/a page or two) from Mao" now maybe someone has questions, maybe someone disagrees, maybe someone posts Fannon to further the discussion. Then after the time period (2-3 weeks) we'll pick another topic. Maybe organizing a Union, environmentalism, the dictatorship of the proletariat or the history of Eastern European socialist states.

What do comrades think of this as a plan?

Marxist Scholar Vanguard wrote:

I agree, I think this is what we had planned. In my opinion 2 weeks is plenty of time to spend on any topic, as it stretches out to 3 or 4 weeks, people will get bored/lose interest.

What about something like, a "teacher" or volunteer may post; "This week (or 2 or 3) we'll chat about national liberation/colonialism. Here are some works (3-4 paragraphs/a page or two) from Mao" now maybe someone has questions, maybe someone disagrees, maybe someone posts Fannon to further the discussion. Then after the time period (2-3 weeks) we'll pick another topic. Maybe organizing a Union, environmentalism, the dictatorship of the proletariat or the history of Eastern European socialist states.

What do comrades think of this as a plan?

I think there has to be some sort of mechanism in place if a topic ends up taking more time than we expected, we shouldn't cut it off if there's still important conversations going on

Marxist Scholar Vanguard wrote:

I agree, I think this is what we had planned. In my opinion 2 weeks is plenty of time to spend on any topic, as it stretches out to 3 or 4 weeks, people will get bored/lose interest.

What about something like, a "teacher" or volunteer may post; "This week (or 2 or 3) we'll chat about national liberation/colonialism. Here are some works (3-4 paragraphs/a page or two) from Mao" now maybe someone has questions, maybe someone disagrees, maybe someone posts Fannon to further the discussion. Then after the time period (2-3 weeks) we'll pick another topic. Maybe organizing a Union, environmentalism, the dictatorship of the proletariat or the history of Eastern European socialist states.

What do comrades think of this as a plan?

I’m for it :)

Sorry for the wait comrades! I'm Zulanka, a Marxist-Leninist in the US and member of North Korea and The Internationale. I hope to contribute to the furthering of the education of leftists on NS with this project.

I honestly was wanting to have reading groups come out of this, but I think comrade All-union peoples republics' point on focusing on sections to draw out from so as to avoid inaction makes a lot more sense (at least at this point in time). I could see some quality articles as being a springboard for discussion as well and one that's more accessible than an entire book. I would rather have more flexible times around a given topic being more appropriate (with consideration going towards the complexity of said topic and interest in it).

Something I'd like to see is if teachers or folks answering questions can navigate a space between just giving answers off the top of their heads and throwing links at people. We should strive for thoughtful, high-quality answers that engage with the individual asking a question on their level and give them material for further engagement of their own. Everyone here has their own strengths and weaknesses, their own preferences in what they engage with regarding theory, so no one should feel the burden to answer a question if they don't feel they can give a substantial reply.

These are two really good works by Lenin on this that I recommend, and it shows that as far as it's relation to praxis and socialist struggle religion is not a black and white issue, something that's usually left out of discussions like this is the existence of a thing called "context"

I know we're not reading whole books in here, which I think is a good thing, but from what I remember these aren't actually all that long, what do my comrades think about analyzing these for the religion discussion?

One big thing that I think it's important to remember, especially for people like me who aren't particularly fans of religion, is that although it is used by capitalists to maintain capitalism, sometimes the struggle against religion is also used to distract people from the struggle against those same capitalists, like what Germany did with the Kulturkampf

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1905/dec/03.htm