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By Rhosyn Carhydd.
New comrades that agree with the goals which communists are fighting for and desire to get involved, often experience a feeling of inadequacy and struggle to actively participate in discussions. There is an impression that they lack knowledge in relation to other comrades. That some have experiences such as this isn’t all too surprising considering the wealth of information that exists within this tradition. Over 150 years of history with intense development which is constantly being supplied with new experiences. Neither is there an official course with a standardized list of texts and program that guarantees you a title – communist. Thus one is left with questions such as “What do I have to know?”, “What should I read?” and a general uncertainty regarding how and where one can start.
Communists and the communist tradition originate from people, not any different from you and me, that experienced the effects of societal issues in their own lives and wanted to find answers. Answers which could explain these effects and make sense of society in a way that would point the path forward and how these problems could be addressed. Sadly, a “correct” answer has not been found yet, we are still suffering under the boot of capitalism after all.
Grounding knowledge in a way that relates to our life experience is crucial. To agree that the state has to be crushed without an understanding of why that is desirable, why a state is “bad”, what a state really is and, most importantly, how that relates to our life and society at large has little use. In the fight for a democracy that grows and thrives only with a diversity of opinion, it is undesirable to learn “laws” without being able to relate it to one’s life experience. This understanding of one’s position within and in relation to society, in order to organize effectively and to actively intervene in history is critical consciousness. Something that does not exist in the form of rules, standards etc. that one is taught and follows uncritically.
But the question remains, where to start, what can one do to better understand oneself and society in relation to each other?
Sadly, the short answer is: it depends. It depends on the specific situation one finds oneself in. Not all topics are equally accessible to people without taking into account their concrete context.
Texts that are written within a specific context and specific goal can appear like very different texts based on who reads them. “The State and Revolution”, a very popular and well-known text for example, appears as a fairly distinct text when read in the context of “overtaking the state or crushing the state” in comparison to when read in the context of a text written in 1917, amidst the Russian revolution. Having no knowledge of these or other relevant contexts will make this text scarcely useful, apart from occasionally being entertaining whenever Lenin throws an insult at Kautsky.
I am not arguing for requiring a sort of map on which contexts are required in order to navigate to accessible texts. Rather, I am trying to say that a context is required for making a text at all available. Interest of a topic implies at the very least some awareness that will make some texts available. Texts that will bring new perspectives on topics and link them to new questions and ideas. In this way, the pool of topics is expanded to include some which were previously inaccessible. In short, it is important that one starts, not where one starts.
Some problems regarding texts that are marketed as introductory or attempt to synthesize topics or concepts are nonetheless important to point out. Such syntheses will leave out surrounding context out of necessity which, as explained earlier, makes the topic less or not accessible/useful to people unfamiliar with this context. Dialectics often ends up being defined as something more reminiscent of Newton’s laws due to this. Regrettably, dialectics isn’t a collection of equations one can apply by plugging in variables and receiving a straightforward answer. Only a kind of dogma remains, either unusable or used in a way outside of it’s original intent. Patching up the lack of context later on improves the situation, though this detour could have been avoided from the get go.
To be a part of an organization founded on democratic, bottom up, structures which necessitates discussions is a very different paradigm in comparison to what we are used to in our daily lives. These discussions require active participation to express one’s opinions and to be exposed to others’ opinions with the intended, not required, goal of reaching consensus. Regardless if there are differences of opinion, honest consideration and respect for all views provides the possibility for everyone to participate.
Therefore is it possible, and I strongly urge comrades, to challenge their comrades to explain and justify their statements. Not only for the sake of information but because this prompts comrades to reconsider their positions from new perspectives, which helps them to improve their understanding, and because it is a form of praxis which contributes to increase self confidence and critical consciousness.
By engaging in praxis like this, all kinds of knowledge will become relevant when asking more nuanced questions and arguing for one’s opinions. This feeds one’s motivation to intentionally explore and consume more information which then again motivates to start more discussions. In this way an understanding of the world around oneself constantly expands and becomes clearer, one’s self confidence improves and an agency to participate in one’s own life is attained. The effort of becoming a communist is what makes a communist – to be a communist is to become one.
Therefore, my advice is to start discussions about whatever seems interesting, no matter how irrelevant or complex it may appear, to ask for recommendations on resources relevant to topics that interest you and to not be afraid to ask or challenge comrades to elaborate their statements. Start by taking a single step and more will follow.