Here’s the thing about some on the ‘left’(?) pushing against reading Marx & Lenin: the work of Marxism Leninism is not some dated philosophers scheme but a reflection of the *objective* laws of society’s development. Marx & Lenin merely discovered these laws—akin to Isaac Newton.

What is described by Marx & Lenin happens regardless of whether you think it’s true or not. To say “don’t read Marx” is the societal equivalent of saying “don’t read Darwin”. The difference between Marxian socialism & other socialisms is the difference between Darwin & Lemarck.

In the sense that socialism before Marx, just as evolutionary theory before Darwin, had it half-right—they saw trends but couldn’t quite describe the process without abstraction, some closer than others. Marx, like Darwin, lent scientific objectivity to the study of society.

Just as Darwin’s ideas were not 100% completed or absolute, others have built on them as time went on, the same with Marx’s ideas—Lenin is the example here. But that never takes away from the foundational analysis that Marx made just as Darwin provided for evolution. Scientific!