Book Description:“In order to build socialism, first and foremost, we need to have socialist people who understand socialist ideology and have socialist...
It’s available for free (officially) at the link. We can have a weekly discussion for a section/chapter/part etc.
I slightly modified the way I read the text. Instead of going original text only->annotations only, I've settled on reading original text + short annotations only -> long annotations only. Not all the annotations are super long, and reading a three sentence annotation by itself out of context is also not good. I've decided this is the best balance between just reading the text straight through and doing original text only -> annotations only.
This chapter draws heavily from Marx and Engels's The German Ideology, Engels's Dialectics of Nature, and Lenin's Materialism and Empirio-criticism. I feel like most people rarely talk about Dialectics of Nature and especially Materialism and Empirio-criticism. When people think of Lenin, they think of State and Revolution, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, What is to be Done, and so on. Nobody thinks of Materialism and Empirio-criticism.
I think it's very good the book start with dialectical materialism since I feel most Western leftists are terrible at understanding the world in a dialectical faction. Before even discussing political economy or class struggle, they need to understand how to think dialectically. Most Western leftists settle on being undialectical, whether as undialectical idealists who think class struggle can be won through having better morals or undialectical materialists who see economic forces as inevitable and not subject to the conscious action of humans.
It was interesting how it relates sentiment as a means in which the physical world affects our consciousness. In other words, being struck by the beauty of flowers is a means in which flowers affect your consciously through their aesthetic qualities. Willpower, in turn, is how human consciousness affects the physical world. You can see an artist as having these factors in a dialectical relationship: beauty of the world inspires them and through their willpower, they create beautiful art that makes the world more beautiful, which further inspires them to create more art.
From the text, consciousness is developed through labor and social activity.
The Preface of Part 1 before the formal beginning of the chapter discusses the difference between dialectical materialism and materialist dialectics. Honestly, it mostly flew over my head, but materialist dialectics is chapter 2, so I might have a better idea of what it is.
Finished with Chapter 1 Dialectical Materialism:
I slightly modified the way I read the text. Instead of going original text only->annotations only, I've settled on reading original text + short annotations only -> long annotations only. Not all the annotations are super long, and reading a three sentence annotation by itself out of context is also not good. I've decided this is the best balance between just reading the text straight through and doing original text only -> annotations only.
This chapter draws heavily from Marx and Engels's The German Ideology, Engels's Dialectics of Nature, and Lenin's Materialism and Empirio-criticism. I feel like most people rarely talk about Dialectics of Nature and especially Materialism and Empirio-criticism. When people think of Lenin, they think of State and Revolution, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, What is to be Done, and so on. Nobody thinks of Materialism and Empirio-criticism.
I think it's very good the book start with dialectical materialism since I feel most Western leftists are terrible at understanding the world in a dialectical faction. Before even discussing political economy or class struggle, they need to understand how to think dialectically. Most Western leftists settle on being undialectical, whether as undialectical idealists who think class struggle can be won through having better morals or undialectical materialists who see economic forces as inevitable and not subject to the conscious action of humans.
It was interesting how it relates sentiment as a means in which the physical world affects our consciousness. In other words, being struck by the beauty of flowers is a means in which flowers affect your consciously through their aesthetic qualities. Willpower, in turn, is how human consciousness affects the physical world. You can see an artist as having these factors in a dialectical relationship: beauty of the world inspires them and through their willpower, they create beautiful art that makes the world more beautiful, which further inspires them to create more art.
From the text, consciousness is developed through labor and social activity.
The Preface of Part 1 before the formal beginning of the chapter discusses the difference between dialectical materialism and materialist dialectics. Honestly, it mostly flew over my head, but materialist dialectics is chapter 2, so I might have a better idea of what it is.