I have a case of assorted Edison base incandescent bulbs. They’re good for lots of little things like the lamp over the record player to illuminate the strobe dots on the edge of the platter.

They’re also invaluable as parts for a dim bulb tester. You really can’t do that as quickly or effectively with any other technology.

My favorite reading lamp is a tiny little 7.5w incandescent that puts out a cozy light.

No, of course it’s not worth spending hundreds of hours mastering low-level languages and building custom tools anymore.

Your existing knowledge will serve you well if you are willing to learn how to use ai to do shit. Being able to immediately clock a loose end that needs focus is useful now.

Nothing. You benefit more from having someone who will help you plan and prepare for the effects of climate change than you do from having someone who agrees with you about the causes.

The reason for that is you and your comrade can’t do anything impactful about the human sources of climate change.

I have been suggesting you read, specifically in a group, this whole time. It is a proven method.

If you don’t want to read then just don’t be communist. There are other groups that don’t care if you understand what you’re doing.

The method of learning I’m pointing you at is the one used by every successful revolutionary communist movement, the majority of which took place in the nonwestern, nonwhite world. You are betraying a deep lack of understanding when you refer to it as a “usamerican approach to self betterment”.

It is not jargon to employ accurate, broadly understood language when describing things. You are behaving in a way that will drive communist groups away from you when you say stuff like that.

It is okay if you don’t want to do the homework. You can just do something else. If you would prefer not to change then you don’t need to and can just not organize with communists. It’s not a big deal.

Idk what to tell you man. You have comparatively infinite access to the proven pathway to lift yourself up but you said you don’t want to.

It’s okay, just go do something else. I said over and over again I’m not judging you or ridiculing you.

Also the reason for the struggle to escape the capitalist mode of production is because it incentivizes uneven development and totalizing economic conflict between everyone, not because it is impersonal or keeps people down.

The above is not an invitation to discuss theory or history, which I will not do, but an example of how you have some severe misunderstandings that should be corrected. That’s why you need to do the homework.

Or you could just accept a misunderstanding of communism, decide it’s not for you and you don’t need to learn any more and go join a different kind of group. That’s okay. You don’t have to be a communist. You don’t have to understand everything.

No, telling me you have a learning disability wouldn’t have changed my response. The first communist reading group I was ever in had someone with multiple severe learning disabilities and they got through eleven works so I don’t think that’s a barrier.

If you wanted to learn you’d go do it. You have a local organization, you’re on a communist social media platform posting in english so you have access to the internet, access to reading groups and comprehension of the second most used language on the internet.

Multiple mass movements have successfully educated enormous numbers of peasants using books like capital or capital itself.

It’s okay if you don’t want to do the reading. You can just not understand communism. You don’t have to understand everything. Just go do something else.

Part of why I’m adamantly refusing to discuss theory or history with you is that you do not have the background for it. Birthing fully formed from the forehead is a reference to the interpretation of Greek myth wherein Athena is borne from the forehead of Zeus. In the context that I used it, describing your desire to completely hold communism in your mind or dismiss it outright, it’s a little joke meant to poke fun at how idealism (which comes from the Greeks) is pretty silly. I made that joke because it can be seen as an insult to be called idealist and I wanted to make a funny to lighten the mood and also make the point that what modern day liberals think of idealism isn’t what we’re talking about in a Marxist context.

You asked in your comment that I just replied to what the preparations for the revolution look like. I’m not trying to hit you with a gotcha there, I’m pointing it out so you will recognize that you’re not replying from a calm and considered position that you can learn from, but from a defensive, self loathing perspective. You’ve implied that you were “stupid” and “uneducated” all over our conversation. I have gone right past those claims because they’re not worth engaging with.

You have to learn the basics if you want to understand something. If that feels like too much work you can just dismiss the thing and do something else. You have reiterated over and over again that you want an answer, not to learn or understand. I was not trying to insult you all the times that I told you to just go do something else.

It wouldn’t matter if I told you that I thought you were wrong and that you should actually join a reading and discussion group and read capital. You won’t do it. You said you wouldn’t do it. You said you just want to get answers. I said “okay, go do something else then.”

You can’t effectively determine your own path to understanding. That’s a debunked pedagogical myth that will cause you lots of wasted time and energy. We build on other people’s knowledge and experience in the form of teaching for a reason. Self directed learning is possible but you can’t make an end run around the basics.

You should just go do something else and not accept the ideology as possible, whatever that means.

Part of why I keep beating you over the head with “go do the reading” is that you are asking questions answered by it, but the greater part is that you’re thinking in a very idealist way. That is not an insult, just like me telling you to go be an anarchist was not an insult. Idealism is a way of understanding and thinking that’s different than materialism which is the kind of thinking communist theories are based on.

There is a greater and more valuable understanding that comes from reading a big ol book that “is about capitalism” beyond realizing how a revolution works and the myriad plans for transition to communism.

Join a reading and discussion group. You’ll have better luck than trying to birth the revolution fully formed from your forehead.

I want you to understand that I don’t think you’re malicious, I just think you come across as way too eager and didn’t want to explicitly say that most communist organizations try to avoid that because they don’t want the heat it tends to bring.

I didn’t want to say that to you because people don’t generally take it well.

“Go be anarchist” isn’t an insult.

I do not want to talk with you about anything I do in my life or about theory or about history.

I want you to go away from communist movements and instead focus your energy into anarchist or electoralist groups who will have a lower barrier to entry and give you something to do.

You are behaving like an adventurist, wrecker or infiltrator. This is not an accusation, simply a statement intended to express my perception of your behavior.

I don’t think you’re an infiltrator or wrecker, I think you don’t realize how you sound when you start a thread on a public Marxist Leninist platform and ask “what do I do to build a real revolution in America”.

If you wanted to do the homework you wouldn’t be arguing with me about it, you would be actively seeking out ways to understand instead.

You dont, and that’s okay. Anarchist and electoralist groups will take your willingness to act gladly.

Okay, so now you can’t say I’m making an assumption that you didn’t even try because you just told me directly you would seek out guidance and information if you wanted to do something.

Apologies for the leading question but from the way the conversation was going it sounded like you were gonna try and claim I shouldn’t expect you to do any web searches or anything when you seem perfectly capable so I felt the need to get it all in writing. Because I’m not engaging with you in bad faith, as you claimed, I’m engaging with you on and in your terms.

It’s, again - in clear opposition to your accusation that I’m “anti-organizing”, fine if you don’t want to do the homework. As I have stated many times before, you can find an anarchist or electoralist group that will put you to work. That is fine.

If you wanted to buy a chiefs knife what would you do?

You’re unwilling to engage with a foundational communist text that has infinity translations into every language in common parlance, readily available audiobooks, prerecorded reading groups in every format imaginable and actual real time reading groups on the instance you’re posting this thread in.

What resource can I possibly offer you when you describe yourself as unwilling to avail yourself of those around you?

I get it, reading a bunch of old stuff sucks but you’re talking about getting into groups that are trying their god damnedest to not hand the gospel down to you from a pulpit but to help you learn it for yourself. At some point if you wanna be a deacon you gotta crack the good book, right?

From your perspective it’s an arbitrary and meaningless roadblock, but from the perspective of groups you’re trying to get involved with it’s a fundamental cornerstone to developing an understanding you share with the group.

That is necessary for the group because of a bunch of reasons, they might be interested in making sure you grasp the idea of not wasting energy on the lumpen or upholding the mass line for example. They might need to make sure their members can stand up to the most basic scrutiny possible before turning them loose on the public. They might gain critical understanding about you as a person that helps them trust you or at least not view you as an infiltrator. Heck, they might just see you as a comrade worth developing.

That’s why I suggested multiple times that you stop trying to join communist groups. Anarchists and electoralists will gladly put you to work to accomplish their ends regardless of your understanding.

How do you expect it to go?

It would be so cool if you had done the fucking reading so we could have that conversation.

Actual existing socialist movements that became actual existing socialist states successfully taught people to read using the book capital.

None of the roles involved in operating the socialist state or tearing down the bourgeois state preclude literacy.

Experts in their fields need to understand history and theory in order to be able to figure out new forms of organization.

We are not storming the battlements. There are not ditches to be dug. All serious communist movements in the imperial core strive to understand the conditions of the moment and determine how they should respond to them. That requires history and theory.

Again, if you just feel like you’re gonna fly to pieces if you don’t do something, there are anarchist and electoralist groups that will put you to work.

It sucks to have a fire lit under your ass and have the people who did it say “now sit on your burning ass and read this long boring book and have a talk with us about it afterwards.” It’s not something you can make an effective end run around.

People’s movements that included the illiterate made teaching literacy a priority with capital often used as a pedagogical text.

Learning the history and theory is how you understand the revolutionary potential of any given moment.

Bringing everyone who wants to be a part of the movement to a shared level of understanding as equals is how we choose to work with all types of people.

If you just feel like there’s no time to read a book and can’t be convinced otherwise by literally every successful movement in all of history then there are anarchist groups that will put you to work or liberal electoralist organizations that will do the same.