Party membership is open to anyone who "who accepts the Programme and Constitution of the Party organizations, pays membership dues and works in one of the Party organizations". (My thought: the tricky point here is "accepts the Programme and Constitution" – a party would have to write one that's broad enough to allow flexibility, yet specific enough to exclude right-wing/reactionary/anti-revolutionary tendencies. It's about specifying what are the real hallmarks of the party?)

Engels said Marx's mission was to overthrow capitalism. This is interesting because some people think of Marx as a theoretician.

Liu Shaoqi quotes Engels on Marx and Stalin on Lenin and the gist of it is "Be a fighter, be a man of action." Stalin on Lenin: "Never refuse to do the little things, for from the little things are built the big things – that is one of Ilyich's important behests." – This is reminiscent of the line in Combat Liberalism: "to disdain minor assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be slipshod in work and slack in study. This is a tenth type."

An emerging theme is that Marxists should unify theory and practice.

Don't adulate the heroic names so much that they become unattainable. They were very small on the scale of things.

Every Communist should keep his feet on the ground, seek the truth from the facts, work hard at tempering himself, work conscientiously at self-cultivation and do his best to improve his own thinking and quality. He should not regard the thinking and qualities of such great revolutionaries as the founders of Marxism-Leninism as beyond his reach, give up and be afraid to advance.

• People who, "Although they read Marxist-Leninist literature, they are unable to use its principles and conclusions as a guide to action and apply them to concrete, practical problems in real life". Dogmatists who "could only babble Marxist-Leninist phraseology". They become arrogant. "Those people had no sincere desire to study Marxism-Leninism or fight for the realization of communism - they were just careerists in the Party, termites in the communist movement."

• People who study hard, "conscientiously carry on self-cultivation and examine themselves to see if their handling of affairs, their dealings with people and their own behaviour conform to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism". "They are well read in Marxism-Leninism but at the same time they make a special effort to investigate and analyse living reality, to study the characteristics of their own time and all aspects of the situation facing the proletariat of their own country, and to integrate the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution in their own country."

Studying the characteristics of your own time and conditions implies we should spend time studying contemporary polls, news, debates, current affairs. Study that and study classic theory and unite them. And do practice of course.

Don't expect applause, adulation, respect. Ironically you get it this way ("Yet such a person will enjoy the considered respect and support of the mass of the Party members just because he acts in this way"). This is also a life-lesson I learned just in life.

Then there are people of exactly the opposite kind. They see themselves above all as pupils of the founders of Marxism-Leninism, conscientiously study the theory of Marxism-Leninism and strive to grasp its essence and spirit. They look up to the noble character and proletarian revolutionary qualities of the founders, and in the course of revolutionary struggles they conscientiously carry on self-cultivation and examine themselves to see if their handling of affairs, their dealings with people and their own behaviour conform to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism. They are well read in Marxism-Leninism but at the same time they make a special effort to investigate and analyse living reality, to study the characteristics of their own time and all aspects of the situation facing the proletariat of their own country, and to integrate the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution in their own country. They do not content themselves with memorizing Marxist-Leninist principles and conclusions, but take a firm Marxist-Leninist stand learn the Marxist-Leninist method and act accordingly, giving spirited guidance in every revolutionary struggle, and thus they transform reality and at the same time transform themselves. Every one of their actions without exception is guided by the general principals of Marxism-Leninism and is devoted to the victory of the proletarian cause, the liberation of the nation and all mankind, and the triumph of Communism.

Is, I think, the most important paragraph of the chapter, detailing what we should strive to be and be doing.