Raising the theoretical level of our membership is a constant struggle. While considering how best to raise the level with a layer of promising new comrades in Halifax we looked around for tools at our disposal and quickly recognized that the In Defence of Marxism magazine wasn’t sufficiently utilized. In preparation for the party’s congress the comrades read the draft resolution on the use of IDOM and thought, “Why wait?”. We discussed the need for constant education in our branches and connected it with the role of the IDOM magazine. All agreed we should use this resource more.
We put this into practice by refocusing our reading group in the city on issues of IDOM, bringing copies of various back issues to the branch, and discussing the magazine in one-on-one meetings. The reading group has had stronger discussions on this basis, we’ve brought old issues of the magazine out of the closet where they were collecting dust and put them in the hands of comrades who are enthused about studying them. Our sales of the magazine have increased significantly. We’ve sold 11 copies in the last three weeks.
IDOM is an invaluable tool for one-on-one follow-up and mentorship, the focus of each issue and the variety of articles within are exceptionally useful for fostering a culture where comrades are independently driven to study Marxist ideas and raise their political level. We hope that the discussions we’ve had based on the magazine help develop comrades’ appetites for Marxist ideas, inspiring them to dive into each issue and explore the full depth of each subject covered within.
–Alice M., Halifax
