OK jokes aside, have you ever felt like you were too dumb to read an important book, not because the book is too difficult to understand, but because smart people with credentials made you feel like you shouldn't try?

And you should just take their word for it instead?

Congratulations, you've just encountered a priesthood.

Get some friends together, find someone who knows the text a little better than you do, make yourselves a little book club. If you have questions, there are people and resources all over the internet who are more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

And I'm not just talking about The Communist Manifesto. There are powerful leftist books, all over the place, written for the masses, that have more or less had walled shrines of obscurantist babble built around them by people who are *trying* to make you feel too dumb to engage.

That's the whole point, and you have to ignore all that.

Just read the books, ask people for help if you're getting stuck, and form your conclusions.

That's how I did it, and I have disabilities (like, physical ones too) that interfere with reading and concentration.

I'm not special, I'm just a guy who has questions and then reads until I either find answers, or finds bigger questions to ask.

None of these other gatekeepers are special either; all they have are credentials intimidating enough to make you feel like you shouldn't ask at all.

Hope that helps.