Dell
Dear Comrades,
I am very proud of us for choosing to embark on this journey of studying Marxism together.
As we move forward, it is important to be honest about something from the very beginning: Marxist theory can be difficult, even for advanced Marxist theoreticians. That difficulty is normal. Struggling with theory does not mean you are unintelligent or incapable—it means you are doing real political study.
This guide exists to help us study Marxism actively, not passively, so that we are not simply flipping pages or consuming words, but actually penetrating the deeper meaning of the text and developing ourselves politically.
Start With the Glossary (Always)
Before anything else, always begin with the: Glossary
Marxist writing often uses historical language, philosophical terminology, and words that are rarely used in everyday speech. Understanding the vocabulary first prevents confusion from piling up later.
There is no shame in looking up words. Every Marxist has had to build their vocabulary over time. Even experienced comrades regularly encounter unfamiliar terms, historical references, or concepts that require further study.
The glossary exists to make your journey easier, so use it.
Why a Study Guide Is Still Necessary
Because of modern technology, it has never been easier to study Marxism.
What once took weeks—reading yellowed pages, flipping through dictionaries, writing notes by hand, searching through libraries—can now be done in minutes through search engines, digital books, Marxist archives, podcasts, videos, and learning tools.
So why do we still need a study guide?
Because easy access does not equal deep understanding.
Information is everywhere. Understanding is not.
Our goal is not speed.
Our goal is clarity.
We are not trying to finish the most books. We are trying to understand the ideas within them and develop ourselves into conscious revolutionaries capable of applying those ideas in the real world.
Step 1: Building Good Habits
When embarking on the journey to study Marxism, you may encounter unfamiliar words and sentences that, when strung together in your mind, leave you completely confused. Don't worry. Every single Marxist was once at this level and eventually overcame that learning curve.
First, it is important that we understand what it actually means to study.
To study means "the effort to acquire knowledge through reading, observation, or research."
The keyword here is effort.
That is all we ask from you: effort.
Marxism is nothing without effort.
Before anything else, you must train your mind muscle.
We live in a time of endless distractions. Through modern technology, entertainment and information are constantly at our fingertips. This has undoubtedly weakened many people's ability to concentrate for long periods of time and, at times, even think critically on their own. However, this is not irreversible. It can be overcome.
What is required is the conscious retraining of the mind through gradual and consistent effort.
Start small.
Read 3 pages a day for 3 days. Then 5 pages a day for 5 days. Then 6 pages for 6 days. Then 7 pages for 7 days, and so forth. Slowly build your capacity to concentrate until reading and study become second nature.
Remember, it takes roughly 15 days to establish a habit and around 60 days before that habit begins to feel natural and deeply rooted. The exact timeline will vary from person to person, but the principle remains the same: consistency builds discipline.
The same principle applies to becoming a Marxist cadre.
It takes time to develop a cadre. Those who are highly disciplined and dedicate themselves to study every day can often transform themselves into capable cadres within two years. These are exceptional cases. For most people, this is not the norm, and that is perfectly okay.
A cadre is a cadre, regardless of how long the journey takes.
For most comrades, the process takes between four and six years of consistent reading, study, discussion, and practical work. Others may take seven or even eight years because they have families, jobs, school, health concerns, or other responsibilities demanding their attention. What matters is not speed but persistence.
Remember: the turtle won the race at the end of the day.
You do not need every day to be perfect, nor do all of your study days need to be consecutive. What matters is remaining consistent and returning to the work.
Do not be discouraged if you struggle to maintain a routine. One thing that helps is having a genuinely interesting book in front of you, and a good Marxist book is often a very interesting book.
As you read through these incremental stages, make time to take notes. Grab your phone—yes, even though I just told you to put it down—and look up unfamiliar words. Research the event, person, historical period, or concept being discussed. Look up the passage itself if necessary.
Do not become frustrated when you read something several times and still do not understand it. Take a break. Let the ideas sit in your mind. Go for a walk. Think about them throughout the day. Ask yourself, how is Dialectics moving through the world right now? Often, concepts return later with greater clarity than they first appeared. This is the first step of learning: building the mind muscle.
At this stage, your goal is to build a concrete understanding of the three foundational pillars of Marxism:
Dialectical Materialism
Historical Materialism
Marxist Economics
We encourage comrades to begin with the foundational texts before diving deeply into other subjects. These works provide the tools necessary to understand everything that comes afterward.
Question: Why do I need to wait before reading other books I'm interested in?
We recommend beginning with books directly tied to the foundational pillars of Marxism because doing so will save you a tremendous amount of time in the future.
Once you possess a firm understanding of these foundations, it becomes much easier to identify contradictions, separate truth from falsehood, and analyze new material through a Marxist lens.
If you choose to read other works first, that does not mean you will not develop politically. It simply means the journey may be more difficult. Without a strong foundation, there is a greater risk of misunderstanding certain texts, historical events, or political arguments, which can then lead to movements being destroyed.
That is why we encourage comrades to follow the Educational Plan, in the order it is presented. The sequence has been designed to build the knowledge layer by layer, allowing each new concept to rest on a solid foundation laid by the previous one.
Step 2: The Best Learning Method
Marxist books, articles, and works were never truly meant to be studied in complete isolation.
While individual reading is important, Marxism is ultimately a collective science. It develops through discussion, debate, questions, and the sharing of experiences. That is why the best method of studying Marxism will always be studying alongside other people.
When you read with comrades, you gain something that no book, video, search engine, or learning language model can provide. You gain the collective knowledge and experience of others who are on the same journey as you.
We always encourage comrades to write mini leadoffs for their cell meeting (3-5 minutes) or short leadoffs (5-8 minutes). This allows you to write out the ideas you just learned in your own words and explain them back to your Cell.
Very often, your leadoff may help to clarify perspectives for other comrades,, or they may even be able to clarify sections of your leadoffs for you.
If you ever become stuck, confused, or uncertain about a word, concept, historical event, or argument, do not struggle in silence. Always bring written questions to your cell meeting.
This is one of the most important aspects of collective study.
It allows us to ask questions out loud, hear how others interpret a text, and discover that we are not alone in our confusion or struggles.
Often, comrades will explain things in ways that books cannot. Sometimes hearing a concept explained from another person's perspective can unlock an understanding that seemed impossible only moments before.
You may also learn something equally valuable: how other comrades struggled through the same theory that you are struggling with now.
Do not be afraid to ask questions.
There is no such thing as a dumb question.
Every Marxist has been confused before. Every Marxist has had to ask for help. Every Marxist has encountered passages that seemed impossible to understand at first.
The comrades around you are not there to judge you. They are there to learn alongside you.
Beyond collective study, another powerful method of learning is testing yourself.
Create flashcards.
Make study sheets.
Write summaries.
Write small articles and reflections on what you have read.
Test your knowledge with another comrade during a one-on-one.
Attempt to explain concepts in your own words.
Most importantly, let other people read what you write.
It is important that your voice is heard too.
One of the best ways to discover whether you truly understand a concept is to attempt to teach it to someone else. The process of explaining an idea often reveals gaps in your own understanding and helps strengthen what you have learned.
Marxism is the study of socialist science. Immerse yourself in it. Become a student of it.
The Sankofa Communist Party also provides worksheets, books, eBooks, quizzes, workshops, seminars, reading guides, and other educational materials to help comrades measure their progress and deepen their understanding.
Remember that political education is not a race.
You are not competing with your comrades.
You are growing alongside them.
Read together.
Study together.
Ask questions together.
Struggle through difficult ideas together.
And, through that collective effort, develop Bi Nka Bi.
Step 3: How to Use Technology as a Learning Weapon
The third step is learning how to use technology at your disposal.
We are fortunate to live in a time when it has genuinely never been easier to study Marxism. You can search for a word, historical event, person, or concept and receive information within seconds. What once required hours in libraries, dictionaries, and archives can now be accessed from a phone or computer.
Fifteen or twenty years ago the internet looked very different. Today, powerful search engines and learning language models have become integrated into many of the tools we use every day.
While many people refer to these systems as "AI," it is important to understand that what we have today is not artificial intelligence in the science fiction sense. It cannot think for itself; it certainly cannot do most tasks that humans do. These systems are learning language models (LLM)—tools that process enormous amounts of information and generate responses based on patterns in language. They are productivity tools and learning tools, not independent thinkers.
These technologies are increasingly becoming part of our daily lives. We encounter them in search engines, workplace software, note-taking tools, communication platforms, and educational resources. Even within our own work, tools such as AI-generated meeting summaries can sometimes save valuable time.
The reality is that these technologies are here and part of the productive forces, and as Marxists, we should learn to use them critically, selectively, and responsibly rather than disregarding them completely.
Technology should never replace study.
Technology should assist study.
The goal is not to outsource your thinking. The goal is to sharpen your thinking.
Let us begin with a practical example.
Let us begin with using this passage as an example:
Step A: Write What You Think the Passage Means
Suppose you encounter a difficult passage while reading.
Your first reaction might be:
"What does hitherto even mean?"
"What was the period of capitalist expansion after World War II?"
"What exactly did Marx predict?"
"This feels way too hard."
These reactions are completely normal and healthy.
Before looking anything up, do this first:
👉 Write down what you think the passage means in your own words.
It does not have to be correct.
It just has to be honest.
This step forces your brain to engage with the text instead of immediately shutting down and searching for answers.
Only after you have made your own attempt should you use a learning language model, search engine, book, glossary, or another resource.
The key principle is simple:
Think first.
Research second.
When used properly, an LLM becomes a clarification tool rather than a replacement for thinking. It can challenge your assumptions, provide additional context, explain difficult vocabulary, and help you identify parts of the text that you may have misunderstood.
Within the party, we only recommend Ecosia as a search engine because it places a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability and renewable energy than many alternatives. Ecosia also helps fund tree-planting efforts through its searches while investing heavily in solar grids and renewable energy.
You can download Ecosia here for iPhone and Android
- Ecosia: Search to plant trees App - App Store (iPhone)
- Ecosia: Search to plant trees - Apps on Google Play (Android)
Ecosia - the search engine that plants trees
Note: Ecosia is both a private browser and an AI search tool. Here’s the direct LLM search link Ecosia - AI Search
Here is an example of what Ecosia can provide you with after you enter in a prompt: Can you explain Leon Trotsky Permenant Revolution to me?
Example Prompt For You To Type
“I am reading What Is Marxism? by Alan Woods and Rob Sewell.The passage says:
‘“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”, says the Manifesto in one of its most celebrated phrases. For a long time, it seemed to many that this idea was outmoded. In the long period of capitalist expansion that followed the Second World War, with full employment in the advanced industrial economies, rising living standards and reforms (remember the Welfare State?), the class struggle did indeed seem to be a thing of the past”
This is what I think it means:
I think Marx is saying that history is shaped by class struggle. There was capitalist expansion after WWII, but I don’t understand how. Marx predicted capitalism would eventually fail. I don’t understand words like hitherto or inexorably.
Can you explain this to me like I’m a middle schooler?”
We are not asking you to use the phrase "like I'm a middle schooler" because we think anyone lacks intelligence.
Quite the opposite.
The reason is that most people learn best when complex ideas are explained in clear and simple language. If an idea cannot be explained simply, it is often not fully understood. The TV show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader did not exist for no reason.
Many intellectuals hide behind complicated jargon. Marxists should strive to do the opposite. Nobody cares for pretentious talk if they cannot relate to it.
We should be able to explain difficult ideas in ways ordinary working people can understand.
A useful rule to remember is:
If you cannot explain it to a middle schooler, you probably do not fully understand it yet.
Why This Works
You are testing your understanding rather than outsourcing it.
You are learning vocabulary within its proper context.
You are forcing ideas to be explained clearly.
You are creating a feedback loop between your own thinking and the information you receive.
After you submit your question, something important happens.
The difficult word becomes clearer.
The historical context becomes clearer.
The overall argument becomes clearer.
The fog begins to lift.
Example of the results that the prompt you typed returned:
If you still do not understand the answer, continue asking questions.
"What is a bourgeois?"
"What is a serf?"
"What does Marx mean by class struggle?"
"I still don't understand."
Do not be afraid to keep digging deeper.
Study is not about finding answers immediately.
Study is about patiently working through confusion until understanding emerges.
The more questions you ask, the stronger your understanding becomes.
Method 2: Non LLM Option
We also understand that many of these technologies are developed within a capitalist system and consume significant amounts of energy, resources, and infrastructure. Data centers, cloud computing, and large-scale computing networks all carry environmental costs. Every search you make now is directly connected to a data center.
If you prefer not to use learning language models or AI tools, you can still study effectively through traditional research methods.
You can:
- Paste the passage into Google with AI summaries turned off.
- Search the exact sentence, phrase, or question.
- Read explanations from multiple Marxist sources.
- Look up historical events, people, and concepts individually.
Different sources may give different explanations, and some sources may approach topics from a reformist, liberal, or non-Marxist perspective. This means you must be willing to compare sources and think critically about what you are reading.
Despite these limitations, it remains an excellent tool, especially when combined with discussion among comrades and collective study.
Here is an example below:
Google can also be extremely useful when you are only stuck on a single word.
Sometimes an entire sentence or paragraph may make perfect sense except for one unfamiliar term. In those situations, simply looking up that individual word may be enough to unlock your understanding of the entire passage.
I also strongly recommend keeping a personal glossary of terms.
This can be a physical notebook, a document on your computer, or even a note on your phone. Whenever you encounter a new word, write it down alongside a definition that makes sense to you in your own language.
Over time, these words will begin appearing again and again throughout Marxist literature. The more often you encounter them, the easier they become to remember.
Eventually, you will find yourself reading passages that once seemed impossible and understanding them immediately because your brain has already built familiarity with the vocabulary.
Do not underestimate the power of repetition.
Many Marxist concepts seem difficult the first time you encounter them, understandable the third time, and completely obvious by the tenth.
Your brain will memorize more than you think if you remain patient and consistent.
Method 3: Supplemental Resources
It is not always easy to avoid the extent to which technology influences our daily lives today, but there are still many excellent ways to study Marxism that do not rely on LLMs or AI tools. Many comrades throughout history developed a deep understanding of Marxism through books, discussions, lectures, and independent study long before these technologies existed.
You can always turn toward:
- Books
- Lectures
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Articles
- Group discussions
These resources can be incredibly valuable, but they require something very important: political judgment.
Whenever you encounter a new source, ask yourself a few questions.
Does this source push toward reformism or revisionism? If so, am I able to recognize it and draw the correct conclusions from it?
Does it replace the role of the masses with the actions of individual leaders?
Does it downplay class struggle?
Does it discourage revolutionary organization or collective action?
Not every source that calls itself socialist, communist, or Marxist will arrive at the same conclusions. Learning to critically evaluate ideas is part of developing yourself politically.
If you are ever unsure, bring the question to your cell.
Collective evaluation matters.
One of the greatest strengths of organized political study is that comrades can help each other identify mistakes, clarify difficult concepts, and evaluate sources together. You do not have to figure everything out on your own.
Sankofa Communist Party
The party website should always be one of your primary resources, second only to the educational programme itself.
As the party continues to grow, the website will be filled with an expanding collection of articles, podcasts, reading guides, book reviews, study materials, worksheets, quizzes, and educational resources designed to help comrades on their political education journey.
Our goal is to create a central hub where comrades can deepen their understanding of Marxism, revisit important concepts, discover new areas of study, and find guidance when they encounter difficulties in their reading.
To help comrades continue their studies, we have compiled a list of trusted resources that provide valuable theory, history, analysis, and educational material.
The Marxists Internet Archive contains one of the largest collections of Marxist literature available anywhere in the world. Many times, you can simply search a topic followed by "marxists.org" and immediately find articles, speeches, books, and historical documents related to that subject.
In Defence of Marxism and the Revolutionary Communist International provide a large collection of articles on theory, history, economics, and contemporary events.
The Spectre of Communism podcast is an excellent resource for learning about communist history and revolutionary movements.
Hood Communist focuses heavily on Pan-African history, Black radical traditions, and Marxist analysis from a Black working-class perspective.
Lady Izdihar provides accessible videos covering major Marxist thinkers and historical figures such as Marx, Engels, Lenin, and many others.
Red Pen produces some of the clearest educational videos available on the foundational pillars of Marxism and is especially useful for newer comrades who are trying to understand difficult concepts.
Left Voice and Socialist Alternative both contain extensive archives of articles, political analysis, and explanations of historical events and theoretical questions.
Below are some recommended resources for further study:
Marxists Internet Archive
https://www.marxists.org/english.htm
In Defence of Marxism / Revolutionary Communist International
Spectre of Communism Podcast
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmkivsu9EhGABC5d-wtbSuk8D9fx55gh1&si=g4WGFn47CZ9kEA50
Hood Communist
Lady Izdihar
https://www.youtube.com/@LadyIzdihar/videos
Red Pen
https://youtube.com/@redpen1917?si=WA34N4rn9wucjoqJ
Sankofa Communist Party
Left Voice
Socialist Alternative
https://www.socialistalternative.org/
Remember, these resources should supplement your study, not replace it. Reading, discussion, note-taking, and critical thinking remain the foundation of political development.
No video, podcast, article, or AI tool can substitute for the effort required to become a Marxist.
Use every tool available to learn, but never stop thinking for yourself.
Final Reminder
Confusion is not failure. It is the starting point of understanding.
Study slowly.
Ask questions freely.
Explain things simply.
Lean on your comrades.
We are learning together.
I want to leave comrades with this excerpt from Trotsky:
Dear Comrades:You complain that you have not been able to read even one-tenth of the books that interest you, and ask how to rationally allot your time.
This is a very difficult question, because in the long run each person must make such a decision according to their particular needs and interests. It should be said, however, that the extent to which a person is able to keep up with current literature, whether scientific, political, or otherwise, depends not only on the careful allotment of one’s time but also on the individual’s previous training.
In regard to your specific reference to “party youth,” I can only advise them not to hurry, not to spread themselves thin, not to skip from one topic to another, and not to pass on to a second book until the first has been properly read, thought over, and mastered.
I remember that when I myself belonged to the category of “youth,” I too felt that there just wasn’t enough time. Even in prison, when I did nothing but read, it seemed that one couldn’t get enough done.
Trotsky’s advice remains important for us today: do not hurry, do not scatter yourself across too many subjects at once, and do not mistake speed for development. Master one book before rushing to the next. That is how a serious Marxist cadre is built.
