i swear to god, if i hear one more dumbass say a variant of "stupid-asses not reading theory" im gonna cum down their fucking throat.

like holy shit, slow the hell down queen. sorry that some of us don't feel like trying to decipher formal register bullshit, and would rather get their theory from people who don't sound like plantation owners.

"The surplus-value produced by prolongation of the working day, I call absolute surplus-value."

What the fuck is this supposed to mean? Is he talking about making long-ass workdays? Is he talking about creating extra value by overworking? What the fuck is it? Holy shit, the classism is rampant here and it's super fuckin' annoying to see.

If you tell somebody to read theory then you better be ready to help them fucking read it. Either that or don't tell them to at all, I could really give a shit what old generally-white guys said about a subject that I can understand by taking off fifteen minutes of my time to ask someone in a leftist discord. Ancient theory is useless in a modern domesticated setting, no-one talks like Marx nowadays.

/vent

    • the_river_cass [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      A transliteration of seminal works into contemporary lay terms would be a major boon in terms of understanding the books and thus relating better to those that came after.

      yeah, I agree that this is the biggest problem here. there's a cognitive load in trying to translate what's being said and understand it at the same time. we don't expect people to read theory in the original language and languages change over time; capital probably needs a modern translation.

      the original was considered simple enough to understand that workers have been picking it up for 1.5 centuries and reading it in between their shifts. famously, poorly-educated black sharecroppers read Marx and Lenin through the 1930s, very nearly leading to a communist revolution.

    • glimmer_twin [he/him]
      2·
      4 years ago

      There are hundreds of attempts to modernise the concepts in these old texts to present them to a new audience. They exist if people want to read them. But people like to use the density of the works, and the somewhat dated language, as an excuse not to educate themselves.

      • yeehawman1312 [he/him,any]
        2·
        4 years ago

        Attempt to find one easily, maybe then you'll understand what i'm saying.

        Transliteration, even when it exists, is extremely hard to access.

        • glimmer_twin [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44403028-understanding-marxism

          https://misterbookman.com.au/product/marx-a-beginners-guide-to-marxism-paperback-2005/

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-AkeOyiOQ

          https://podtail.com/en/podcast/marx-madness/

          https://redmenace.libsyn.com/

          • yeehawman1312 [he/him,any]
            4·
            4 years ago
            1. $$$
            2. $$$
            3. A fucking hour long youtube video about a subject from the 1800's thats being argued over to this day.
            4. A fucking podcast about a subject from the 1800's thats being argued over to this day.
            5. A fucking podcast about a subject from the 1800's thats being argued over to this day.

            An easily accessable PDF format should exist for the people who want to directly read a clear transliteration of any Leftist subject. Corners shouldn't be fucking cut on this shit.

            • Amorphous [any]
              ·
              4 years ago

              bro if dirt-poor fucking farmers and industrial workers could read marx and lenin, you can stand to listen to a 1-hour long youtube video. holy shit.

            • glimmer_twin [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Lol, at this point you’re just demanding someone does the hard work so you don’t have to. You’re apparently not even willing to search youtube, instead attacking the handful of links I posted just to prove that what you’re asking for already exists. There are many other videos, some of them are even animated!

              At some point if you’re truly someone who wants to build a revolution it’s gonna take actual work. Learning from what revolutionaries of the past thought, from what they tried, their successes and failures, is a key part of that work. It’s how we make ourselves better comrades. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 150 year old book, a YouTube video, or a fucking manga, a dedicated revolutionary would be willing to put in the work.

              • glimmer_twin [he/him]
                ·
                4 years ago

                Parenti is a great read, writes in a very accessible manner. Honestly I think Lenin is very approachable, his language isn’t so dated so much as you need a bit of historical context because he refers to events/groups/individuals you might not be aware of.