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Prefacing this by saying that I used to be an anarchist, but after reading theory my ideology evolved.
Listening to podcasts and watching youtube videos is a good way to understand the basics of revolutionary ideas, but nothing can compare to actually reading theory. I can also have a short attention span sometimes, and I often find myself counting pages until I can finally put the book down. Reading theory may not be enjoyable, but all of us have a duty as leftists to educate ourselves as much as possible; which mainly involves reading.
The best way I've found to absorb revolutionary literature is by interacting with the text through annotating. Sitting down and reading 2 chapters before bed is a good idea, but after a certain amount of paragraphs your eyes glaze over and you're no longer comprehending what you're reading. If you finish a work without truly understanding it, you've wasted your time. Instead of just reading, annotate the work like you were forced to do in school. Annotating doesn't just mean highlighting random shit - it means you have a conversation with the text, relating it to other ideas.
You can recap what you just read into simpler words, write down definitions of words you didn't know, comment on what the author's saying, relate it to something else you've read or something in your own life, or emphasize something as important. Taking it slow and making sure you understand each paragraph before moving on may seem like you're reading at a glacial pace, and you are. I'm a fast reader normally, but when it comes to reading theory I really like to take my time.
I'm reminded of this quote by Angela Davis on reading Lenin with her comrades in the Black Panther Party:
If I still retained any of the elitism which almost inevitably insinuates itself into the minds of college students, I lost it all in the course of Panther political education sessions. When we read Lenin's State and Revolution, there were sisters and brothers in the class whose public school education had not even allowed them to learn how to read. Some of them told me how they had stayed with the book for many painful hours, often using the dictionary to discover the meaning of scores of words on one page, until finally they could grasp the significance of what Lenin was saying. When they explained, for the benefit of other members of the class, what they had gotten out of their reading, it was clear they knew it all--they had understood Lenin on a far more elemental level than any professor of social sciences
If people who didn't even learn how to read can work through theory, you can too. It's going to take persistence, and I'm not saying it's going to be fun or easy, but it's extremely important that you do so.
Yeah, no worries. My job is decently rigorous, but I'm still not working on extremely mentally taxing things. Even then, I usually just relax after work. Sometimes I can get half an hour of reading in, but after having my surplus labor value exploited all day I feel burned out and just want to relax.
As far as shorter form stuff, someone posted their leftist RSS feed here a few days ago. If you didn't know, RSS is like a news aggregator, so you get a bunch of news and updates all in one place. If you're looking for short things to read during the week, I'd recommend something like that. For a really short read, Smedley Butler's pamphlet "War is a Racket" is a really short read, and especially potent coming from a US General.
If you're working towards a scientific degree, Engel's "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" is a great explanation of why Marxists hold the beliefs they do, and examines the marxist view of socialism as a science. It's also only like 100-150 pages or so.
For stuff to watch, Michael Parenti's talks on youtube are absolutely fantastic. He's a super talented speaker, and a really good political analyst.
My original response was based on a quick reading of your question, since a lot of anarchists and newer leftists have a difficult time working through theory. Not to get into sectarianism, but the reason you see a lot of people (myself included) mention that they are former anarchists is because once you start reading more theory, you start to get a better understanding of Marxism and therefore Marxism-Leninism. The most common path to becoming a ML involves being an anarchist at some point.
Good luck in your reading comrade! (also nice username btw)
After you finish Socialism, I honestly can't recommend Lenin's "State and Revolution" enough. If you're kind of confused why MLs support a transitionary socialist state despite the authoritarian nature of state power, Lenin clearly explains why and how the revolution must be conducted. What's really cool about State and Rev is that a few years after writing it, Lenin proved his hypothesis during the October Revolution.
That book is what turned me, and many others, from anarchists into Marxists. I don't want to say too much, because you should absolutely read it yourself, but it's a fantastic read. There's a reason it's considered the cornerstone of modern socialism, and basically every reading list on socialism lists it near the top.
ayyy yeah, I talked to him on reddit a while ago mentioning this site to him before it launched. That video is fucking fantastic, it's hilarious and well-sourced.
Emma Goldman’s Anarchism and Other Essays is a decent primer and I felt like I got quite a bit out of it, even though I just listened to the audiobook version. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin is just fucking great sci-fi in general and covers quite a bit of anarchist thoughts and sentiments. Audiobook for that also, highly recommend.
Came here to suggest Anarchism and Other Essays too! The book is divided into 12ish topics that are like 8-10 pages long, so it's really easy to get through and the variety and density of information is just perf.
anarchopac on twitter/youtube often teaches me things about anarchism
Anarchopac might be one of the greatest modern anarchist communicators
You could also read the first chapter of The Conquest Of Bread and decide it's interesting but you'd rather be out there actually doing something, then going out there and doing something. That's a time-honored tradition among anarchists without attention spans.
Errico Malatesta is a rather underrated anarchist theorist and I thoroughly enjoy his work. I know you probably don't want long books, so I'll recommend a couple short ones that are intentionally brief. First, his text simply called "Anarchy" is probably the best primer there is, despite the bread book often being recommended as the first read. Malatesta also has a very interesting text called "At The Café" that works similarly as a primer, but done with actual characters, almost like a Socratic dialogue. I read this one as part of a socialist book club and it was a lot of fun.
This is just general advice, but if you have trouble with books, I have two suggestions:
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An e-reader like a Kindle or Nook that lets you customize font size and spacing and shit like that, you can functionally turn pages into paragraphs that are easy to consume.
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Audio books, for a lot of people I've worked with, if they can let their eyes wonder and keep their hands busy with a hobby or a chore or even a fidget toy, it becomes a lot easier to focus on the content of the audio book.
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Former anarchist here but I always enjoyed David Graeber stuff for approachable, common sense takes on theory
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-are-you-an-anarchist-the-answer-may-surprise-you
Even as an ML his anthropological work is so helpful and articulate
Sincerely,
DBTraven
I'm extremely busy. I have a 2 year old my wife and I both full time on opposite shifts because of no child care. Needless to say, my reading was suffering.
I got into audio books and it's been really great. Audio books might have lower comprehension than reading from a screen or book, but if you have a low attention span it's probably better.
I figured out that you get two books from audible if you do a trial and there are a bunch of Marxist audiobooks floating around. I'm sure if you look around some kind soul has uploaded from audiobooks of anarchist works too.
Reading is actually hard and extremely painful for some people, for example those with ADHD. I still don't understand the superiority complex people have regarding theory. Do you think you're actually going to help the working class by telling everyone to "read theory"? What does this accomplish, besides shaming people into educating themselves more and repelling those who don't care enough? What if people have already learned a lot of theory, and still are anarchists? (Yes, this happens.)
Obviously theory is cool, but holy shit this sentiment is so vapid. This may be a "joke" but it's a shit one.
“Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.”
I get it. Reading dense texts isn’t for everyone. But to disregard learning from historic revolutionaries on the basis that some comrades can’t or won’t read isn’t really ideal? If a bunch of Chinese peasants in miserable conditions almost 100 years ago could take on board Marxist ideas I don’t see why someone with the entirety of mankind’s collected knowledge at their fingertips can’t absorb it in some form, whether it’s podcasts, youtube, memes, whatever.
Yes, I understand. Fostering an environment where "reading theory" is the behavior of the in-group isn't too great. Examining the conditions of the working class right now (personally or not) and organizing/pushing them left doesn't actually require that much theory.
Implying anarchists tend to ignore reading and thinking (substituting theory for the aesthetic instead, I guess? praxis isn't even considered here) is not cool. Yeah, I know we're on the internet where posting is always revolutionary praxis.
Regarding memes: this is why I'm considering formally studying the left pipeline. A rough sketch of the right's pipeline has edgy personalities -> IDW -> ben shapiro -> TPUSA/PragerU -> actual fascism, and this pipeline is pretty solid and well-funded. We need to study the left pipeline and bolster it with propaganda. One easy way to do this is with memes.
If you're interested, I'm part of a group trying to do exactly that. Some folks in the group came up with the woorker/recrooter formats and the 4/20/69 work week poster. I have a hard time thinking this hard about memes but it seems to be the future, hit me up if you like
Definitely not, in particular I think left educational podcasta like RevLeft are doing amazing work, Breht is a true comrade.
