I have been reading a lot more recently with the goal of expanding my understanding of socialism, imperialism, and history from a socialist perspective. I have noticed two issues with my current routine: retention and motivation. I think that both of these could be improved by an opportunity to share and discuss with other people with similar interests, and I believe that other people may be going through the same struggle.
For this reason, I want to start a socialist reading circle and I was wondering if any friendly comrades have advice for successfully establishing one.
Some key issues:
- Framing: I will be posting an ad for the event to a public group for English speakers (I'm a beginner in the local language) in the city I live in and I would like to be strategically inclusive to entice people who might be less politically conscious. Would "socialist reading circle" be the best or would a different framing be better?
- Location: I would like to keep the circle out of the pub, but a weekday evening seems like the best time for a regular event like this. I was thinking that some sort of cafe might be the best option, but I would appreciate any suggestions.
I would appreciate any suggestions and experience from the community, so please don't hesitate to leave a comment.
If you're going to be publicly reading the book at the meeting instead of saying 'read X chapter before the meeting' have a format where you read for X amount of minutes then break for a discussion period for X amount of minutes, where you alternate between reading and discussing until the end of the session. To make sure discussions don't get out of hand, follow a loose sort of roberts rules for meetings where you have a speakers list that allots like 1-2 minutes of speaking time per person with new people having priority and repeat speakers being sent to the bottom of the list every time they raise their hand.
So like initially if we're having a discussion where I raise my hand, jimbo raises his hand, Octavia raises her hand, Josh raises his hand, Jessica raises her hand, and Trotters raises his hand, the speaking list would be as follows
And let's say that by the time we reached Josh, I want to speak again because someone said something that inspires me to add to it BUT another person who hadn't spoken, Kiara and José, both raise their hands at the same time. The list would look like as follows
Make sure you keep track of the allotted time for discussion periods to make sure you don't burn your reading time by being firm with saying who's going to be the last speaker for this round but you'll keep the list of speakers who didn't speak so the next round they can go first if they wish to.
This communal reading and discussing style can seem slower for the more book savvy and intelligentsia types but public reading discussions definitely helps build a common foundation of theoretical literacy for the group as a whole.