[Part of Groundings in the Communist World Outlook. Click here for the table of contents.]

The purpose of the following groundings is to guide prop sessions and collective discussions that ground participants in a basic understanding of the communist world outlook. The six sessions in this volume are directed especially to revolutionary-minded proletarians and youth. They do not require deep reading in advance or mastery of communist theory, although everyone going through these sessions should read the Manifesto of the Organization of Communist Revolutionaries. Many of the concepts in these sessions take years to grasp deeply, and thinking like a communist is an ongoing, lifelong process of learning through theory and practice. These groundings are intended as a way to start that process.

There are basically two ways to use these groundings:

1. As six “propaganda sessions,” where a communist with a deeper theoretical understanding uses each outline as the basis for delivering a talk, followed by discussion.
2. As a guide for six collective discussions, going through each section of the outlines, reading the bullet points together, and discussing them together.

Option #1 will require the person leading the sessions to do background reading and come up with a personalized, engaging way to deliver the material (though the bullet points can be read out loud as is to some degree) and then using the discussion questions and key terms to lead collective discussion. Option #2 relies on the collectivity of the group to understand the material together.

Especially if doing option #1, during each session, we suggest taking a minute after each section to give participants a chance to ask clarifying questions and let the material sink in, but holding off for longer discussion and deeper questions until you’ve gotten through all sections of the session. The discussion questions and key terms provided at the end of each session are intended to help guide discussion. We suggest that groups going through these groundings commit to going through all sessions either “retreat” style (all in one long weekend) or going through one a week (six weeks total), so that the material stays fresh and builds on itself.

While no reading is required to effectively go through these groundings beyond the Manifesto of the Organization of Communist Revolutionaries, below are background readings that were used to develop these sessions. In addition to the below sources, to develop your grasp of the communist world outlook to a higher level, we suggest studying Going Against the Tide journal and the “classics” of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

Supplemental reading, broken down by session:

What is capitalism-imperialism? Part 1: history and economic concepts

Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto

Marx, Capital vol. 1

Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

Kenny Lake, With a Few Exceptions, Colonialism Is Over, part 1

What is capitalism-imperialism? Part 2: up to the present

Kenny Lake, With a Few Exceptions, Colonialism Is Over, parts 2 and 3 and conclusion

Kenny Lake, The Specter That Still Haunts: Locating a Revolutionary Class within Contemporary Capitalism-Imperialism

Why is proletarian revolution the only solution?

Lenin, The State and Revolution

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?

Mao, Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

Kenny Lake, Revolution Has Vanished

Communism as the final goal of proletarian revolution; the socialist transition to get there

Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme

Mao, On Contradiction

Mao, On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People

Zhang Chunqiao, On Exercising All-Around Dictatorship Over the Bourgeoisie

The national question

Stalin, Marxism and the National Question

Organization of Communist Revolutionaries (US), The CP, the Sixties, the RCP, and the Crying Need for a Communist Vanguard Party Today, specifically the sections “Becoming a vanguard in the struggle for Black liberation…” and “The Sixties”

The woman question

kites editorial committee, “Between Gilead and OnlyFans”

Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State

Federici, Caliban and the Witch