Winning a socialist revolution in the U.S. requires attending to the specific dynamics of this country, for which anti-communism and white chauvinism have served as unofficial religions for over a century. Throughout this four-part course, we’ll learn theories and engage in examples of popularizing socialism so we can win over larger and larger segments of the population to the necessity and reality of the radical reconstruction of society. Socialist consciousness doesn’t grow spontaneously. The only way it can grow is through the purposeful efforts of organizers engaged in a variety of campaigns on the neighborhood, local, state, national, and international level.
Although there is nothing natural about teaching, our first set of readings you’ll see that you’re already an educator—or at least that you already possess some characteristics of an educator. By focusing on the theory and practice of revolutionary education, we can train a new cohort of organizers to not only promote socialist consciousness but be better equipped to enter into any arena of struggle.
In this three-part course, we’ll familiarize ourselves with (and practice) different educational modes and discuss and experience their relationship to liberation. Along the way, we’ll gain a common vocabulary to better reflect on, discuss, and refine our educational practices (whether they be in the streets, schools, prisons, or on the job and whether they take the form of lecturing or leading small-group discussions).
Required text
- Nino Brown (ed.), Revolutionary Education: Theory and Practice for Socialist Organizers, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Liberation Media, 2022).
Reading schedule
Session 1: Sun. June 28 (intro, ch. 1, ch. 3)
Session 2: Sun. July 07 (ch. 2, 5, 8, 9)
Session 3: Sun. July 14 (ch. 4, 6, and Appendix A and B)
Featured image: The cover of Revolutionary education. Credit: Liberation News.