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Join a
YSA Study Group
The Russian
revolutionary V.I. Lenin once said that “without revolutionary theory
there can be no revolutionary action.”
Study groups are a great
way to get to the heart of political texts, as it allows you to share your
insights and learn from those of others in the group. Study groups can be set up where the
participants read the text before hand and simply get together to discuss
it afterwards, or they can be set up so that the text is read out loud and
discussed all at the same meeting.
You can find a whole
array of texts of various questions we recommend reading and studying the
following texts:
Intro 2 Socialism
texts
 What is Socialism?
How to Make a Revolution
What Will a Socialist America Look Like?
Why
Do We Need a Vanguard Party?
Overview
of What Socialists Stand For
Socialists and Elections
Marx, Lenin &
Trotsky
Communist Manifesto by Karl Mark
Three Sources & Three Component parts of Marxism
by V.I. Lenin
Transitional Program by Leon Trotsky
Most Youth for Socialist
Action chapters hold study groups on a regular basis. Check out the YSA Chapter Directory to find out
what study groups are being held in your area. And if there isn’t a YSA chapter in your area, all YSA
supporters are welcome to participate in any Socialist Action study
group. For a listing of Socialist
Action branches
click here.
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How to Organize & Conduct a Study Group:
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The
following article was first published in the Daily Worker magazine supplement, December
13, 1924. The author is James P.
Cannon, the founder of American Trotskyism.
The problem of
educational work is many-sided. Enthusiasm for this work among the party
members must be aroused and maintained. A general recognition of its
fundamental importance must be established. It must be organically
connected with the life and struggles of the party, and must not become
academic and sterile. And it must be conducted in a systematic manner,
becoming an established part of the life of the party throughout the year.
This last will not just “happen”. It will take much work and the
introduction of correct organizational and technical principles. All our
theories will come to nothing if our educational apparatus does not
function properly.
Many classes have landed on the rocks
because they were not conducted properly. One of the most frequent
inquiries we have received from comrades who are undertaking party
educational work is: “What is the best way to conduct a study class?” It is
the purpose of this article to give an answer to this question based on the
collective experience in the field of educational work from which a few
general principles can be extracted.
Let us begin at the beginning and
proceed step by step. When the responsible party committee in the given
localities has decided to establish a class, let us say, for example, in
the “ABC of Communism”, the next move must be to appoint a leader for the
class. This leader must understand that the class will not move of itself,
but must be organized and directed from beginning to end, otherwise it will
fall to pieces. The comrade in charge of the class must then proceed to
enroll students, having them register for the class and making sure he has
a sufficient number who agree in advance to attend the classes before he
sets the time for calling it. As soon as a sufficient number of students
have been enrolled, a date is set for the first class and all the students
are notified.
At this point we should speak a word
about the danger of haphazardness in the attendance at the classes on the
part of any of the students. The party committee must decide that the
attendance at class once a week, or more frequently, as the case may be, is
a part of the member’s party duty and should excuse him from party
obligations for those nights. The systematic and regular attendance at
class by all students must be constantly stressed, and the party committee
and the leader of the class must constantly fight against the tendency,
which always grows up, to regard the study class as a series of lectures at
which one can “drop in” whenever he feels like it. Good results can only be
obtained when the class is an organized body and is regularly attended by
the same students.
Methods of conducting
classes
The methods of conducting the classes
which have proved most successful from past experience can be roughly
divided into two general methods. These methods may be modified and varied
in many ways, according to local circumstances, experience and
qualifications of the teacher, etc.
These two methods are:
1. The lecture-question method.
2. The method of reading from and
discussing the text in the class.
The lecture-question method. This is the
method most frequently employed by experienced teachers, and one which
yields the most satisfactory results if qualified comrades can be found to
conduct the class along this line. The use of this method presupposes that
the teacher, who is himself thoroughly familiar with the subject matter of
the text, possesses some ability and experience as a lecturer. It is not
necessary, however, for him to be a professional. The average communist who
has a firm grasp of his subject will find that with a little practice he
can succeed in holding the attention of a class.
Under this method the teacher delivers a
lecture for the period of about one hour on some phase of the general
subject, dealt with in the text. In addition he requires the students to
read, outside the class, in connection with his lecture, certain portions
of the text and sometimes portions of other books which deal with the same
subject. When the class comes together for the second time it is opened with
a question period of about thirty minutes during which the lecturer quizzes
the students on the subject matter of the previous week’s lecture and the
reading in connection with it. It is best to have a short recess at the end
of the question period in order to get a fresh start for the lecture. A
lecture of about an hour then completes the evening’s work. Again the
students are referred to sections of the text for reading in connection
with the lecture. The same procedure is then followed at each successive
meeting of the class until the end of the course.
When this method is employed it is not
advisable to have indiscriminate discussion in the class, as this will
almost invariably divert the attention of the class from the immediate
subject at hand and destroy the possibility of consecutive instruction. For
a teacher to conduct a class according to this method he must take it
firmly in hand, establish his authority at the very beginning, and maintain
it throughout the course. Nothing is more fatal to the success of such a
class than for the opinion to grow up amongst some of the students that the
teacher knows less then they do about the subject. For he will then be
unable to maintain the proper discipline in the class and hold it to its
course. Whenever a study class, organized for the purpose of consecutive
study of a certain aspect of communist theory or tactics, begins to resolve
itself into a group for general discussion or a debating society, its early
demise can be confidently expected.
Reading and discussing the text. This
method also works out very well, especially in elementary classes. In this
method, as in all others, however, the first prerequisite is a class leader
who takes a responsible attitude towards the work and who takes it upon
himself to organize and lead the class and hold it down to the matter in
hand. This class leader should by all means thoroughly study the text
before the class commences and make himself master of it.
The class conducted according to this
method proceeds by the class leader calling upon the students, one after
another, to read a few sentences or a paragraph from the text. After each
student finishes reading the part assigned to him, the leader asks the
student who has read the passage to explain it in his own words. If he
fails to bring out the meaning clearly or interprets the passage
incorrectly, the question is directed to other students, the leader himself
finally intervening to clarify the matter if necessary.
Proceeding along this line the class
will cover a chapter or so of the text each evening. Before the reading
commences each time, the leader should conduct a brief quiz of the class on
the part of the text dealt with on the preceding evening in order to bring
out the points clearly for the second time, refresh the memory of the
students, and connect the preceding class with the one about to begin.
In the course of a few months,
proceeding along this line, the class will get through the “ABC of
Communism” and will have acquired a grasp of the fundamental theories of
the movement. Moreover, if the class has been conducted successfully, if it
has had the good fortune to have a leader that can inspire confidence and
enthusiasm and who can hold it together as an organized body in spite of
all difficulties, the students of the class, or at least a large part of
them, will emerge from their first course of training with a strong will
and spirit to acquire more knowledge and thereby equip themselves better to
become worthy fighters in the cause of communism.
The success of the study class work is
to a very large extent dependent upon organization, leadership and class
discipline. It should start on time and stop on time each evening. It must
not accommodate itself to casual students or chronic latecomers. It should
not degenerate into a mere discussion group over the general problems of
the movement but must confine itself in a disciplined manner to the
specific subjects dealt with in the course. It should be conducted in a
businesslike fashion from start to finish, students being enrolled and the
roll called each evening. Above all it should have a leader who,
notwithstanding lack of previous experience, will take his task so
seriously as to thoroughly master the subject himself. Then he will be able
to establish sufficient authority in the class to lead it step by step to
the end of the course.
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