You can still teach people theory. Theory is important. But it makes no sense to open with it. That's like being asked to teach someone how to use a computer and opening with an explanation of how a CPU works.

No one is going to pay attention to all your theory if they can't understand how it meaningfully relates to their circumstances.

And, frankly, the term Marxism comes with so much cultural baggage at this point that you're far better off focusing on what it actually means rather than what it says. You need to get people out of their preconceptions and help people understand what Marx really meant.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

You insult the average person, people are far smarter than you give them credit for. Moreover, you can't avoid discussing the "baggage" that comes from Marxism anyways, so acting scared and secretive is more damaging than anything else. Maintaining a correct line is more important than trying to be sneaky and having it backfire by having them either not read theory, which would be disastrous, or having them retain anti-socialist views because you were sneaky.