Because it's really difficult to understand for some people. It kind of comes off as "just clean your room". I think you could put the manifesto in front of plenty of people any they wouldn't really gain anything from it. I think the people who gain the most from theory are people who are motivated and want to get something out of it, which isn't everyone who SHOULD be reading theory. It makes more sense to pack it down into something that people can easily understand, then when they get onboard have them read some of the more dense pieces of theory. I do think theory is essential to deepening your marxist/commuinist/anticapitalist perspective, but without a proper introduction and base to work from "just reading theory" isn't very pragmatic.
I think the logic is that many people will assume that if a poor person reads the german ideology and doesn't get it/doesn't understand why it's useful it's somehow their fault, and not their lack of education. "Theory" is more accessible to those who are more educated, who in turn are more wealthy. My Marx class was one of the most rigourous classes I took in college, as well as being literally the highest level philosophy class offered. It's not that poor people CAN'T understand 150 year old political philosophy, it's that they're less likely to experience it within their education meaning they have a higher hill to climb in understanding it. I don't think the actual action of telling someone to read theory is classist, but having the opinion that poor people are poor bc they don't read theory is certainly classist (not saying you're making that argument, just an example of a classist argument)
Because it's really difficult to understand for some people. It kind of comes off as "just clean your room". I think you could put the manifesto in front of plenty of people any they wouldn't really gain anything from it. I think the people who gain the most from theory are people who are motivated and want to get something out of it, which isn't everyone who SHOULD be reading theory. It makes more sense to pack it down into something that people can easily understand, then when they get onboard have them read some of the more dense pieces of theory. I do think theory is essential to deepening your marxist/commuinist/anticapitalist perspective, but without a proper introduction and base to work from "just reading theory" isn't very pragmatic.
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I think the logic is that many people will assume that if a poor person reads the german ideology and doesn't get it/doesn't understand why it's useful it's somehow their fault, and not their lack of education. "Theory" is more accessible to those who are more educated, who in turn are more wealthy. My Marx class was one of the most rigourous classes I took in college, as well as being literally the highest level philosophy class offered. It's not that poor people CAN'T understand 150 year old political philosophy, it's that they're less likely to experience it within their education meaning they have a higher hill to climb in understanding it. I don't think the actual action of telling someone to read theory is classist, but having the opinion that poor people are poor bc they don't read theory is certainly classist (not saying you're making that argument, just an example of a classist argument)