I did not read Marx and Lenin before I read more contemporary writers and my grasp of what those writers were really saying was limited by my ignorance.

You don’t have to stick to a scheduled syllabus but you should familiarize yourself with the subject material. Lenin is actually a great place to start because much of what he writes is concerned with engaging and clarifying Marx & Engels

Also Marx just had a ton of shit he wrote so don’t be afraid to look for spark notes versions and summaries. You don’t have to read the whole bib to get the basics